New "Compromise" on Contraception does nothing
WASHINGTON, February 10, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com)
- The White House announced today that, instead of forcing religious
employers to pay for birth control, it will force insurance companies to
offer the drugs free of charge to all women, no matter where they work.
The plan, touted as a concession to freedom of religion and
conscience, was immediately denounced by pro-life Rep. Chris Smith. “The
so-called new policy is the discredited old policy, dressed up to look
like something else,. said Smith. .It remains a serious violation of
religious freedom. Only the most naï or gullible would accept this as a
change in policy.”
“The White House Fact Sheet is riddled with doublespeak and
contradiction,” Smith continued. “It states, for example, that religious
employers ‘will not’ have to pay for abortion pills, sterilization and
contraception, but their ‘insurance companies’ will. Who pays for the
insurance policy? The religious employer.”
In a statement
released today, the White House said, “Under the new policy announced
today, women will have free preventive care that includes contraceptive
services no matter where she works.”
“If a woman works for religious employers with objections to
providing contraceptive services as part of its health plan, the
religious employer will not be required to provide contraception
coverage but her insurance company will be required to offer
contraceptive care free of charge.”
The birth control rule announced last summer was intended to force
virtually all employers to cover sterilizations and contraception,
including abortifacient drugs such as ella, a sister drug to RU-486. The
religious employer exemption essentially applied only to houses of
worship, creating an uproar in the Catholic community as hospitals,
schools, and charities would have been forced to pay for the drugs. The
furor only grew stronger when the administration announced last month
that the concerned religious organizations would be given an extra year
to comply.
President Obama reiterated the statement in a press conference this
afternoon, saying that “the insurance company, not the hospital, not the
charity, will be required to reach out” to women employed by such
institutions to offer birth control “without copays, without hassles.”
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