U.S. bishops are pressing for a place at the table in White House discussions to modify the contentious HHS mandate, a prospect that has become even more important as new polls show dwindling support for the mandate among the general public.
According to a new CBS News/New York Times poll, a survey taken last week found that 57 percent of Americans believe religious organizations should be allowed to “opt out” of covering birth control for their female employees. Another 51 percent said anyone should be allowed to opt out of any coverage they find objectionable, even non-religious employers.
These polls cannot be good news for the White House where negotiations are supposedly underway between Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services and various religious groups about a plan to modify the regulation. However, the Catholic bishops have been excluded from these talks thus far.
“If there is really going to be a solution to things, we ought to all be in the room,” said Bishop William E. Lori of Bridgeport, Conn., who chairs the religious liberty committee of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Speaking to the Religion News Service, Lori said the bishops “do not have a monopoly on the church” but are nonetheless “responsible for a large part of how this works and for the Catholicity of all the institutions. So there ought to be an attempt to have an inclusive conversation with the Catholic Church, and not a segmented one. And I think that is in part why we are in a fairly unhappy spot right now.”
Lori participated in a meeting in Washington DC on March 13 – 14 with 40 other bishops to focus on relations with the White House and the ongoing problem with the contraception mandate.
The bishops are upset that the administration has been dealing with Catholic leaders who defied them and came out in support of the mandate, with some even accusing the White House of trying to divide Catholics on the issue.
“I think the hardest thing is that the administration deals with us in a segmented way,” Lori said.
In the absence of talks with the White House, the bishops are hoping to either modify or overturn the mandate through the courts.
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