Obama: Health Plans must include free birth control, even for Religious Organizations

[Browncoat]

Obama really doesn't like the Catholics.



Even the liberal Washington Post had a lead editorial calling this decision wrong.

Most church-affiliated organizations will be required to offer their workers coverage of birth control as part of their health plans, the Obama administration announced Friday, but they can get more time than other employers to comply.

The decision came as a bitter disappointment to organizations ranging from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to the National Association of Evangelicals, which had lobbied hard for a broad exemption for employers that oppose birth control on religious grounds.

“This is nothing less than a direct attack on religion and First Amendment rights,” said Franciscan Sister Jane Marie Klein, head of a system of 13 Catholic hospitals in Indiana and Illinois.

The rule, which was first announced last summer and which has drawn more than 200,000 comments, requires private insurance not merely to include birth control, but to do so without out-of-pocket charges. It will take effect beginning Aug. 1, as plans renew.

From the beginning, the rule exempted employers such as churches whose primary purpose is to inculcate religious beliefs and that mainly employ and serve individuals who share those beliefs. Religious advocates argued that this definition was too narrow, excluding a wide range of church-affiliated universities, hospitals and schools.

On Friday, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius unveiled a small change: Religious organizations will be allowed an extra year to comply with the requirement. But the rule itself and the types of employers covered by it will remain unchanged, she said.

The delay was no consolation to Cardinal-designate Timothy M. Dolan, archbishop of New York and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. “In effect, the president is saying we have a year to figure out how to violate our consciences,” he said. “The Obama administration has now drawn an unprecedented line in the sand.”

Sebelius portrayed the delay option as a reasonable compromise between competing interests. “This . . . strikes a balance between respecting religious freedom and increasing access to important preventive services,” she said in a statement.

Many women’s groups and Democratic lawmakers greeted the decision with relief. They had feared the administration was planning to significantly broaden the religious exemption.

“This is good news for millions of women whose access to contraceptive services under this new benefit was being questioned,” said Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.).

Dolan had raised the exemption issue directly with President Obama in November. Following that meeting, word began to spread that the administration was considering ways to address the bishops’ concerns.

Democratic lawmakers who are advocates of women’s reproductive rights launched a vigorous counteroffensive — venting their outrage in several conference calls with top White House advisers and, in the case of at least one senator, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), lobbying the president in person.

On Friday, those lawmakers pronounced themselves thrilled.

IIRC, when they said Catholic adoption agencies had to place babies with gay couples, Catholic adoption agencies chose to close instead. Will they choose to close hospitals over this decision?

[FormLetter]

Hopefully at some point enough constituencies will get wronged by big gov't intrusion to yield a critical mass that actually pulls the gov't back.

[Wigmeister General]

Originally Posted by FormLetter

Hopefully at some point enough constituencies will get wronged by big gov't intrusion to yield a critical mass that actually OVERTHROWS AND ELIMINATES GOVERNMENT EXCEPT FOR VERY, VERY, VERY, VERY, LIMITED PURPOSES.

IFYP

[Brock]

DAD:
There are Jews in the world.
There are Buddhists.
There are Hindus and Mormons, and then
There are those that follow Mohammed, but
I've never been one of them.

I'm a Roman Catholic,
And have been since before I was born,
And the one thing they say about Catholics is:
They'll take you as soon as you're warm.

You don't have to be a six-footer.
You don't have to have a great brain.
You don't have to have any clothes on. You're
A Catholic the moment Dad came,

Because

Every sperm is sacred.
Every sperm is great.
If a sperm is wasted,
God gets quite irate.

CHILDREN:
Every sperm is sacred.
Every sperm is great.
If a sperm is wasted,
God gets quite irate.

GIRL:
Let the heathen spill theirs
On the dusty ground.
God shall make them pay for
Each sperm that can't be found.

CHILDREN:
Every sperm is wanted.
Every sperm is good.
Every sperm is needed
In your neighbourhood.

MUM:
Hindu, Taoist, Mormon,
Spill theirs just anywhere,
But God loves those who treat their
Semen with more care.

MEN:
Every sperm is sacred.
Every sperm is great.
WOMEN:
If a sperm is wasted,...
CHILDREN:
...God get quite irate.

PRIEST:
Every sperm is sacred.
BRIDE and GROOM:
Every sperm is good.
NANNIES:
Every sperm is needed...
CARDINALS:
...In your neighbourhood!

CHILDREN:
Every sperm is useful.
Every sperm is fine.
FUNERAL CORTEGE:
God needs everybody's.
MOURNER #1:
Mine!
MOURNER #2:
And mine!
CORPSE:
And mine!

NUN:
Let the Pagan spill theirs
O'er mountain, hill, and plain.
HOLY STATUES:
God shall strike them down for
Each sperm that's spilt in vain.

EVERYONE:
Every sperm is sacred.
Every sperm is good.
Every sperm is needed
In your neighbourhood.

Every sperm is sacred.
Every sperm is great.
If a sperm is wasted,
God gets quite iraaaaaate!

[DanielSong39]

Gees, pay for your own birth control.

Just how expensive are the Pill and condoms, anyway?

[Dr T Non-Fan]

Wow, one year, in effect, to elect a president who will work with congress to get rid of PPACA.

[Dismal Science]

I find it offensive I have to subsidize alphas under this new measure.

[FormLetter]

Originally Posted by Dismal Science

I find it offensive I have to subsidize alphas under this new measure.

what do you think bank bailouts were?

[Dr. John Zoidberg]

sorry x2 ds

[homeys66]

Oh brother, no wonder my insurance renewal was nearly a 40% increase. Free condoms for all!