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New
York Times
Birth
Control Rule Altered to Allay
Religious Objections
By Rober Pear
February 1, 2013
WASHINGTON
— The Obama
administration on Friday proposed yet another compromise to address
strenuous
objections from religious organizations about a policy requiring health
insurance plans to provide free contraceptives, but the change did not
end the
political furor or legal fight over the issue.
The
proposal could expand the
number of groups that do not need to pay directly for birth control
coverage,
encompassing not only churches and other religious organizations, but
also some
religiously affiliated hospitals, universities and social service
agencies.
Health insurance companies would pay for the coverage.
The
latest proposed change is the
third in the last 15 months, all announced on Fridays, as President
Obama has
struggled to balance women’s rights, health care and religious liberty.
Legal
experts said the fight could end up in the Supreme Court.
Kathleen
Sebelius, the secretary of
health and human services, said the proposal would guarantee free
coverage of
birth control “while respecting religious concerns.”
But
Kyle Duncan, the general
counsel of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty in Washington, which
is representing
employers in eight lawsuits, said the litigation would continue.
“Today’s
proposed rule does nothing to protect the religious freedom of millions
of
Americans,” Mr. Duncan said.
Religious
groups dissatisfied with
the new proposal want a broader, more explicit exemption for religious
organizations and protection for secular businesses owned by people
with
religious objections to contraceptive coverage.
The
tortured history of the rule
has played out in several chapters. The Obama administration first
issued
standards requiring insurers to cover contraceptives for women in
August 2011,
less than a month after receiving recommendations to that effect from
the
National Academy of Sciences. In January 2012, the administration
rejected a
broad exemption sought by the Roman Catholic Church for insurance
provided by
Catholic hospitals, colleges and charities. After a firestorm of
criticism from
Catholic bishops and Republican lawmakers, the administration offered a
possible compromise that February. But it left many questions
unanswered and
did not say how coverage would be provided for self-insured religious
organizations.
Under
the new proposal, churches
and nonprofit religious organizations that object to providing birth
control
coverage on religious grounds would not have to pay for it.
Female
employees could get free
contraceptive coverage through a separate plan that would be provided
by a
health insurer. Institutions objecting to the coverage would not pay
for the
contraceptives.
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