Bishops cautiously welcome revised contraception rule
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Bishop David Zubik addresses the Obama administration's revision of its health care law contraception mandate after the bishop arrived at Pittsburgh International Airport on a flight from Baltimore. -
University of Pittsburgh student Ashley Dishman works at an event Friday by Voices for Planned Parenthood. -
President Barack Obama and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius leave the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House Friday after the president announced the revamp of his contraception policy requiring religious institutions to pay for birth control.
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President Barack Obama's announcement that his administration had found a way to provide free contraceptives to employees of Catholic agencies without the employer having to pay for them or refer employees to insurers was greeted cautiously by the Catholic bishops.
"Today's decision to revise how individuals obtain services that are morally objectionable to religious entities and people of faith is a first step in the right direction," Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan of New York, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said Friday.
He said that the bishops would "reserve judgment on details until we see them" and that they hoped to work with the administration to finalize them.
At stake was an impending federal rule requiring all employers to cover contraception, sterilization and "morning after" drugs in health insurance plans. Until Friday, the religious exemption was so narrow that it covered only houses of worship, not religiously affiliated hospitals, colleges or social service agencies.
Catholic bishops had warned since August that their agencies might have to drop all health insurance, resulting in heavy fines that could force them to close. Although the Catholic Church is virtually the only faith to oppose drugs and devices to prevent fertilization, many religious leaders supported the bishops' protest on religious liberty grounds. It had become a Republican campaign issue.
PG VIDEOMr. Obama said that a "core principle" of providing access to free contraceptives remains. "But if a woman's employer is a charity or a hospital that has a religious objection to providing contraceptive services as part of their health plan, the insurance company -- not the hospital, not the charity -- will be required to reach out and offer the woman contraceptive care free of charge, without co-pays and without hassles," he said.
The American Civil Liberties Union had been among the strongest backers of the original mandate, but on Friday indicated that the revision was acceptable.
First Published February 11, 2012 12:00 am
