Many times when I am writing one of these blog posts-- or just watching the news or discussing it with my students-- I wonder, "Why isn't X being made more of? Why can't people see how important X is?"
I wonder that a lot when it comes to religious opposition to the ACA "contraceptive mandate." In the face of the many accommodations made by the Obama administration and the HHS, I find the objections of the Catholic Church and other organizations (like Hobby Lobby) to be specious. (To review my various musings on these things, click on the "ACA" label, below.)
Encountering a specious argument in politics is, by itself, nothing to get worked up about. That would be like objecting to french fries because they have potatoes in them. What is galling in the case of the contraceptive mandate is to assert that it's a fundamentally intolerable threat to the conscience rights of Christians and represents sign-of-the-apocolpyse changes in the American constitutional system.
Baloney. As I (and many others) have discussed before, with the HHS accommodations in place, there is just no distinct, direct, or sufficient financial or decision-making connection between religious employers and and their employees regarding contraception, such that an employer would reasonably feel that he or she has "provided" employees with contraceptives.
That's the specious argument part. The galling part is the fact that so many Catholic-affiliated organizations have, for years, already been "providing" contraceptives to their employees through health plans under several state mandates-- including the Archdiocese of New York, headed by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).
If the conscience rights of believers are going to be intolerably burdened by contraceptive mandates, why hasn't the world already ended? How is that Catholic institutions are already living with state-level mandates?
When presented with the fact that Catholic employers have been "providing" contraceptive services already, the response of mandate opponents has been a) well, we couldn't figure out a way to avoid it, and b) just because we are putting up with it does not mean that we like it-- we still see it as a violation of our religious beliefs.
Fair enough, but it gives the lie to the assertion that this cannot stand-- apparently, Catholic employers are not required, in order to have a clear conscience, to shut down their charitable work entirely or only serve a Catholic population to ensure that they fall outside the mandate's scope (as has been threatened by mandate opponents in the Church).
In short, the stakes are not as high as advertised, which might come as a shock to American Catholics, who are getting the official message that this is some kind of existential threat.
(Non-Catholic opponents of the mandate, like the owners of Hobby Lobby, have their own set of objections, but, for them, I would simply go back to the specious argument that they, through their corporate form, are actually linked to their employees making the free choice to receive free contraceptives from a third-party insurance company.)
Over the years, the Obama administration has shown a curious incompetence or unwillingness to sell its programs vigorously on the best rhetorical grounds. If I were a member of the administration I would be selling the American public hard on the fact that religious organizations in many states already "provide" free contraceptive services to their employees and the world has not come to an end.
Links:
Article in The New York Times (May 26, 2013): Archdiocese Pays for Health Plan That Covers Birth Control
Article in The New York Times (February 10, 2012): N.Y. Law on Contraceptives Already in Place, and Catholic Institutions Comply
Guttmacher Institute State Policies in Brief fact sheet (August 1, 2013): Insurance Coverage of Contraceptives
Final rule for the implementation of the contraceptive mandate (July 2, 2013): Coverage of Certain Preventative Services Under the Affordable Care Act, Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 127, p. 39870
Recent article in The Hoya (July 18, 2013) reporting that Georgetown University will comply with the new HHS rules: Georgetown Insurance to Cover Contraception
Recent article in America (July 9, 2013), reporting that the Catholic Health Association (CHA) has decided to accept the HHS accommodations, in a split with the USCCB: CHA Accepts Contraception 'Accommodation'
Article in Mother Jones (February 24, 2012), which has a link to a document created by the National Women's Law Center listing Catholic organizations that provide some range of contraceptive coverage: Which Catholic Institutions Cover Birth Control?
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) statement (July 3, 2013) rejecting the HHS final rule on accommodating religious organizations
For the perspective of the major non-Catholic organization fighting the contraceptive mandate, see the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty's HHS Mandate Information Central
I wonder that a lot when it comes to religious opposition to the ACA "contraceptive mandate." In the face of the many accommodations made by the Obama administration and the HHS, I find the objections of the Catholic Church and other organizations (like Hobby Lobby) to be specious. (To review my various musings on these things, click on the "ACA" label, below.)
Encountering a specious argument in politics is, by itself, nothing to get worked up about. That would be like objecting to french fries because they have potatoes in them. What is galling in the case of the contraceptive mandate is to assert that it's a fundamentally intolerable threat to the conscience rights of Christians and represents sign-of-the-apocolpyse changes in the American constitutional system.
Baloney. As I (and many others) have discussed before, with the HHS accommodations in place, there is just no distinct, direct, or sufficient financial or decision-making connection between religious employers and and their employees regarding contraception, such that an employer would reasonably feel that he or she has "provided" employees with contraceptives.
That's the specious argument part. The galling part is the fact that so many Catholic-affiliated organizations have, for years, already been "providing" contraceptives to their employees through health plans under several state mandates-- including the Archdiocese of New York, headed by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).
If the conscience rights of believers are going to be intolerably burdened by contraceptive mandates, why hasn't the world already ended? How is that Catholic institutions are already living with state-level mandates?
When presented with the fact that Catholic employers have been "providing" contraceptive services already, the response of mandate opponents has been a) well, we couldn't figure out a way to avoid it, and b) just because we are putting up with it does not mean that we like it-- we still see it as a violation of our religious beliefs.
Fair enough, but it gives the lie to the assertion that this cannot stand-- apparently, Catholic employers are not required, in order to have a clear conscience, to shut down their charitable work entirely or only serve a Catholic population to ensure that they fall outside the mandate's scope (as has been threatened by mandate opponents in the Church).
In short, the stakes are not as high as advertised, which might come as a shock to American Catholics, who are getting the official message that this is some kind of existential threat.
(Non-Catholic opponents of the mandate, like the owners of Hobby Lobby, have their own set of objections, but, for them, I would simply go back to the specious argument that they, through their corporate form, are actually linked to their employees making the free choice to receive free contraceptives from a third-party insurance company.)
Over the years, the Obama administration has shown a curious incompetence or unwillingness to sell its programs vigorously on the best rhetorical grounds. If I were a member of the administration I would be selling the American public hard on the fact that religious organizations in many states already "provide" free contraceptive services to their employees and the world has not come to an end.
Links:
Article in The New York Times (May 26, 2013): Archdiocese Pays for Health Plan That Covers Birth Control
Article in The New York Times (February 10, 2012): N.Y. Law on Contraceptives Already in Place, and Catholic Institutions Comply
Guttmacher Institute State Policies in Brief fact sheet (August 1, 2013): Insurance Coverage of Contraceptives
Final rule for the implementation of the contraceptive mandate (July 2, 2013): Coverage of Certain Preventative Services Under the Affordable Care Act, Federal Register, Vol. 78, No. 127, p. 39870
Recent article in The Hoya (July 18, 2013) reporting that Georgetown University will comply with the new HHS rules: Georgetown Insurance to Cover Contraception
Recent article in America (July 9, 2013), reporting that the Catholic Health Association (CHA) has decided to accept the HHS accommodations, in a split with the USCCB: CHA Accepts Contraception 'Accommodation'
Article in Mother Jones (February 24, 2012), which has a link to a document created by the National Women's Law Center listing Catholic organizations that provide some range of contraceptive coverage: Which Catholic Institutions Cover Birth Control?
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) statement (July 3, 2013) rejecting the HHS final rule on accommodating religious organizations
For the perspective of the major non-Catholic organization fighting the contraceptive mandate, see the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty's HHS Mandate Information Central
Comments