“Simply unacceptable.” That’s the near-unanimous response to President Obama’s supposed “accommodation” offered to those who objected to Obamacare’s mandate that religious institutions pay for contraceptive products and services—including abortion-inducing drugs. That mandate — which tramples heavily on religious liberties — drew tremendous fire across the board, from Christians and Jews alike, drowning the President in a political maelstrom of his own design. And though today the President sought to calm that storm with a “compromise,” the voices of opposition are as strong as ever because, quite simply, it doesn’t remedy the moral and religious …
On Friday, President Obama announced an “accommodation” to the Health and Human Services (HHS) contraceptive mandate: Rather than requiring religious organizations that provide group health insurance to cover sterilization, contraception, and some abortion-inducing drugs, those religious organizations will now likely pay higher premiums to insurance companies who will provide these “free services” to employees. This accommodation doesn’t remedy the religious liberty problem. But no partial change to the HHS regulations alters the fact that, within Obamacare, health insurance decisions are dictated by the federal government rather than by individuals and …
The chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee blasted the president’s self-styled “accommodation” of religious employers required under the Obamacare law to provide contraceptive services to employees in apparent violation of the Constititoin’s protection of religious liberty. “Under the President’s proposal,” explained Heritage’s Jennifer Marshall, “employers and employees will still bear the cost of paying for coverage of contraception, abortion-inducing drugs, and sterilization because insurance companies will simply pass on the cost of this ‘free’ service with higher premiums to the employer.” “It’s very chilling and very dangerous,” Rep. Tom Price …
Today, President Obama unsuccessfully attempted to extricate himself from a political crisis of his own making. The issue is Obamacare’s requirement that health insurers and employer-sponsored health plans cover federally mandated “preventive services” in their benefit packages—with no co-pays for enrollees—and the Administration’s subsequent regulatory requirement that those mandated preventive services include contraceptive products and services—including abortion-inducing drugs. The “compromise” the President announced today is that contraception coverage “will be offered to women by their employers’ insurance companies directly, with no role for religious employers who oppose contraception. Insurance companies …
After two weeks of increasingly intense criticism over Obamacare’s disregard for religious liberty, the White House woke up this morning in a mood to “accommodate” its critics. Perhaps White House officials should have signaled that to Senate Democrats yesterday before Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid blocked an amendment sponsored by Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) to preserve faith-based groups’ religious liberty and not force them to take actions contrary to their beliefs and teachings. Instead, the White House maintains its goal-overriding objections of conscience to mandate insurance coverage for birth control, …
Seven years ago Erick Erickson took the reins at RedState to transform the conservative blog into one of the most influential sources of news on the right. He’s led online activists to challenge Republicans and conservatives, unafraid to go to battle on a range of issues. Today he hosts the Erick Erickson Show on WSB Radio in Atlanta and frequently appears on CNN as a political contributor. He was in Washington this week for CPAC and hosted his radio show from Heritage’s Robert H. Bruce Radio Studio. We spoke to …
The Department of Health and Human Services has announced it will not broaden the religious exemption in an Obamacare regulation that requires many religious employers to provide health insurance coverage for all FDA-approved contraceptive methods, sterilization procedures, and certain education and counseling. This mandate is an attack on the religious freedom that so many Americans hold dear. Click here to join us right now for our “Lunch with Heritage” online chat. We are joined by Tom Messner and he is taking your questions about this Obamacare mandate and how it …
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty has already filed two lawsuits challenging the Obamacare regulation that requires many religious employers to provide health insurance coverage for sterilization, contraception, and what many people believe are abortion-inducing drugs. Those lawsuits are on behalf of Belmont Abbey College (a Benedictine Catholic college in North Carolina) and Colorado Christian University (a nondenominational Christian university in Colorado). This morning, the Becket Fund sued the Obama Administration again, this time on behalf of Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN), the Catholic television network that was started nearly …
On January 20, U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius finalized regulations for preventive services under Obamacare that require religious institutions beyond churches to provide and pay for contraceptives, abortion-inducing drugs, and sterilization in their health coverage. The mandate violates the teachings and beliefs of many religious institutions and puts their ministries of service to millions at risk. It tramples religious liberty, and it has rightly offended many Americans. The quotations below from sources across the political spectrum are just a sampling of the outcry against the Obamacare …
It is a rare moment indeed when faith denominations of all stripes unite together in common cause, and it is rarer still when that cause is a political one, with a sole piece of legislation as its principal target. But when that law eviscerates the very foundation of religious liberty in America as protected under the First Amendment, it should not be surprising that Catholics and Jews, evangelical Christians, and mainline Lutherans alike find common cause in defense of their liberties. Such is the case with the firestorm of opposition …
