The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has launched a national program aimed at encouraging the faithful to take a stand against a recent decision by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to require all private health plans to include coverage for contraception, sterilization, and related "patient education and counseling" services for women.
According to a press release, the program is aimed at countering the HHS mandate which will force individuals or groups with religious or moral objections to purchase and provide coverage for contraception and sterilization if they are to receive any kind of health care coverage at all, which many consider to be an unprecedented threat to individual and institutional religious freedom. Even though the rule includes a religious exemption, it is so narrow that almost all Catholic institutions are ineligible.
The USCCB's program will offer concerned Catholics several ways to fight enactment of this rule.
First, because it still considered to be an "interim final rule," the faithful can take advantage of a comment period that lasts until September 30 which gives them time to write to the HHS and express their opposition to the rule. The program includes a link for submitting comments, as well as a bulletin insert explaining the problem and how to respond.
Second, they can get behind a new bill, known as the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act (HR-1179) that will close gaps in protection of conscience rights in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), especially in light of the threat to conscience rights posed by a new mandate. This bill was introduced by Reps. Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE) and Dan Boren (D-OK) in the House and Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) sponsored a companion bill in the Senate (S. 1467). This measure will ensure that those who participate in the health care system “retain the right to provide, purchase, or enroll in health coverage that is consistent with their religious beliefs and moral convictions.”
In a September 7 letter to Congress written by Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, the USCCB's chairman of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities, he urged lawmakers to "help preserve respect in federal law for the freedom to follow the dictates of one’s conscience” by voting in favor of this law.
Cardinal DiNardo went on to say that passage of the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act is even more urgent now in light of the pending HHS rule.
“Those who sponsor, purchase and issue health plans should not be forced to violate their deeply held moral and religious convictions in order to take part in the health care system or provide for the needs of their families, their employees or those most in need,” Cardinal DiNardo wrote. “To force such an unacceptable choice would be as much a threat to universal access to health care as it is to freedom of conscience.”
The USCCB program includes a link the faithful can use to contact their member of Congress and urge them to get behind this vital piece of legislation.
Click here for more information about the program. © All Rights Reserved, Living His Life Abundantly®/Women of Grace® http://www.womenofgrace.com
