HHS mandate is not new?

[LLMom]

A non-Catholic asked me a question (and wants a source) that someone else asked her. I don’t have an answer. Anyone know? This person is basically telling my friend that the Catholic church has been complying for a long time with this mandate in 28 states and no one has raised a fuss. Why now, he said. Here is a quote from him and my friend below his.

“There are 28 states that mandate this today in this country. The catholic church is not exempt in any of those states from providing affiliates birth control through insurance. The precedent was set in place long before the Obama plan. This isn’t a recent issue.”

I then asked him this:

“So…the Catholic Church is mandated by the government to cover contraception for its employees in 28 other states…and they do? Is that what you’re saying?

 

[Joe_5859]

The FAQ on the USCCB website (www.usccb.org/conscience) addresses this (briefly). The short version is that those state mandates still left the local Church with the work-around of placing themselves under federal mandates (and thereby not under the liberty-crushing state mandates). This federal mandate cuts off those avenues those completely.

 

[Incomplete]

A non-Catholic asked me a question (and wants a source) that someone else asked her. I don’t have an answer. Anyone know? This person is basically telling my friend that the Catholic church has been complying for a long time with this mandate in 28 states and no one has raised a fuss. Why now, he said. Here is a quote from him and my friend below his.

“There are 28 states that mandate this today in this country. The catholic church is not exempt in any of those states from providing affiliates birth control through insurance. The precedent was set in place long before the Obama plan. This isn’t a recent issue.”

I then asked him this:

“So…the Catholic Church is mandated by the government to cover contraception for its employees in 28 other states…and they do? Is that what you’re saying?

I can’t speak for other states, but I am from Wisconsin, which is one of the 28. The Bishops here DID fight this thing. I don’t know how many of the faithful did. I do know it never really made the media, so people in general had no clue.

But there are some ways to get around it in Wisconsin. For example, if you are self-insured, like our diocese is, you are not required.

I know that even after it was passed, even with exceptions, our Bishops have continued to lobby against it. I would wish that something would happen on the national level that would get rid of it entirely and affect all of these mandates in other states.

Our current governor, who the citizens of Wisconsin are trying to have recalled (and they will probably be successful) is also trying to fight it.

 

[JimG]

There are many ways to avoid the state mandates in those 28 states, including being self insured. But the HHS federal mandate provides no such exemption and only the narrowest of conscience clauses. It essentially mandates that Catholic institutions and Catholic employers violate their conscience, or end up paying fines for remaining Catholic and practicing their religion.