Legal expert Timothy S. Jost of Washington and Lee School of Law, a Christian who has more than 30 years healthcare law and policy experience, has released an analysis of the President’s updated contraception policy.
According to Jost, the Obama Administration’s rule is not a “war on religion” and does not “require any religious organization that objects to contraception to pay for it.”
Jost points out that requiring insurance companies to offer employees of objecting religious organizations free contraception is not “an ‘accounting gimmick’ under which employers in fact pay for coverage against their beliefs, but [is] in fact paid for by the insurers out of savings that they realize by offering contraceptive coverage.”
Jost’s full analysis may be found here: http://law.wlu.edu/faculty/facultydocuments/jost/contraception.pdf and below:
Analysis of the Obama Administration’s Updated Contraception Rule
Timothy Stoltzfus Jost
Washington and Lee University
It is most unfortunate that a regulation intended to ensure privately-insured Americans access to preventive care without the burden of cost sharing has unleashed a political maelstrom, including claims that the Obama administration is engaged in a “war on religion.” The regulation, published on February 15, 2012 implements section 2713 of the Public Health Services Act. Section 2713, enacted through the Affordable Care Act, requires group health plans and health insurers to cover various preventive services (such as vaccinations and screening and counseling services) and to do so without cost sharing. Congress adopted this provision based on evidence that access to preventive services without cost sharing (copayments, coinsurance, or deductibles) results in greater use of those services. This in turn results in better health. Access also saves money because avoidable conditions are prevented and treatable conditions are detected earlier.
Section 2713 provides specifically that insurers must cover women’s “preventive care and screenings . . . as provided for in comprehensive guidelines supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration . . . “.
Among the preventive services recommended by HRSA are:
All Food and Drug Administration approved contraceptive methods, sterilization procedures, and patient education and counseling for all women with reproductive capacity. http://www.hrsa.gov/womensguidelines
HRSA recommended that contraceptive services be covered on the basis of a consensus report by the Institute of Medicine http://www.iom.edu/Reports/2011/Clinical-Preventive-Servicesfor-Women Closing-the-Gaps.aspx finding health benefits for both women and babies in planned pregnancies. All group plans and issuers that do not have grandfathered status must implement this coverage for plan or policy years beginning after August 1, 2012.
Insurance coverage of contraceptives is common in the United States. Twenty-eight states have laws requiring health insurers to cover contraceptives. Studies cited in the preamble to the regulation found that over 80 percent of insurers and large employers already cover contraceptives. Several court decisions have held that an employer’s failure to provide contraceptive coverage is illegal sex discrimination.
Nevertheless, some religious groups, notably the Catholic Church, teach that contraception is wrong. These religious groups employ thousands of Americans and provide them with employee health benefits. Thus the agencies implementing the ACA attempted to reach an accommodation between the public health objective of increasing access to preventive services and the goal of protecting religious freedom.
The first response of the administration to this issue was to exclude “religious employers” from the contraceptive coverage requirement, defining the term to mean churches and their integrated auxiliaries, conventions, and associations and religious orders that have inculcation of religious values as their purpose and primarily serve and employ persons who share their religious tenets. Churches and other organizations that fit in this category do not have to provide coverage for contraception at all.
This exception did not, however, cover religious hospitals, universities, or charities, some of which objected to contraceptive coverage. But these institutions often employ women who do not hold to the religious beliefs (or follow all of the teachings of) their employer, and excusing all of these employers from compliance would deprive these employees of access to contraceptive services.
The Administration, therefore, created a second exception through guidance. This exception establishes a safe harbor for one year (until August 1, 2013) from enforcement of the regulations to protect non-profit organizations with a religious objection to covering contraceptive services. During this moratorium, the agencies will propose a permanent rule that will require insurers to offer insurance to these religious employers without contraceptive coverage. But the insurers will have to offer free coverage of contraceptives without costsharing for any employees of these religious employers who want it. Health plans will be able to offer contraceptive coverage for free because, according to studies cited by the government, contraceptives cost substantially less than pregnancies. The free coverage is not, therefore, an “accounting gimmick” under which employers in fact pay for coverage against their beliefs, but coverage will in fact be paid for by the insurers out of savings that they realize by offering contraceptive coverage. This second exception leaves outstanding only the issue of coverage of contraceptives by self-insured religious employers, which is still under consideration.
This rule is not a “war on religion,” but is rather an attempt to accommodate a serious public health need and a sincerely held religious and moral conviction. The regulation does not require anyone to use contraception nor does it require any religious organization that objects to contraception to pay for it. It neither prohibits nor requires a religious belief or practice. Accommodation of religious belief and “neutral laws of general applicability” is not an easy task. I am a religious conscientious objector and object to the requirement that I must pay taxes to support war. Yet I do not consider the federal government to be at war with religion, even though it makes no accommodation for my religious beliefs, much less the accommodation that it affords those who object to contraception. For two centuries that United States has been conducting an experiment virtually unprecedented in human history—a government that neither establishes nor forbids any religious beliefs. Sometimes, as with respect to laws prohibiting polygamy in the nineteenth century or my objection to war taxes, it has offered no quarter to minority beliefs. In other situations, as with the implementing of the preventive services requirement, the government has gone a great distance to accommodate minority beliefs, while at the same time trying to accommodate the needs of the majority. As a member of a religious group that has always been in the minority, and is likely to stay there, I rejoice in this ongoing experiment. President Obama, himself a professed Christian, is not at war with religion, his administration is rather trying to find a peaceful solution to one of the many conflicts over religious values that characterize our diverse nation.
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Prominent Catholic leaders and a former Member of Congress spoke out this afternoon to affirm their support for the President’s revised regulations on contraception coverage, which uphold religious liberty and protect women’s access to health care services.
“It’s rare that good will and substance win over cheap political tricks, but that’s what we saw last week,” said Tom Perriello, former Democratic Member of Congress and current President of the Center for American Progress Action Fund. “This is a common-ground solution that comes down on the side of working families while still protecting religious freedom.
Speakers on the call challenged the premise of tomorrow’s 9:30 a.m. House Oversight and Government Reform hearing on religious liberty, held by committee chairman Representative Darrell Issa (R-CA) to investigate President Obama’s alleged “war on religion.” Rep. Issa plans to call a number of Catholic and university leaders who oppose the contraception accommodation. Catholic leaders on today’s call made clear that “war” imagery should never be associated with the faith community and that the White House has approached this issue in good faith and worked with diverse leaders to find a solution.
Many of the speakers did not support the initial religious exemption ruling were pleased to see the Obama adminstration engage with Catholic leaders and others to find a solution last week that assuaged religious liberty concerns voiced by a number of religious leaders.
Stephen Schneck, Director of the Institute for Policy Research & Catholic Studies at the Catholic University of America (whose president John Garvey will testify in opposition to the accommodation at tomorrow’s Oversight hearing), said Friday’s announcement of the revision to the regulation “by and large resolved the religious liberty concerns.”
“I am confident this accommodation creates mechanism to establish greater moral distance between Catholic institutions and contraception than we have had before,” said Schneck.
The ongoing controversy now hinges on demands by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and politically conservative religious voices for a policy to provide exemptions for any employer who wishes to deny contraception coverage to his or her employees, not just employers connected to religious institutions. The difference of opinion and interpretation is critical to understanding the current state of play with this debate.
“I believe in everything my church teaches,” said Nicholas Cafardi, Dean Emeritus and Professor of Law at Duquesne University. “This is not a question of dogma, it’s a question of how we apply dogma in the real world.”
Other speakers raised the tension within Catholicism with engaging in society and working across faith lines towards shared goals with following and abiding by church teaching.
“Catholics have always thought that we need to balance the good that can be achieved in cooperation, like providing health care to the most vulnerable, with the need to refrain from getting too close to sinful behavior,” said Cathleen Kaveny, John P. Murphy Foundation Professor of Law and Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame.
Last week, prominent Catholic leaders (including several speakers on today’s call) released a statement supporting the accommodation, and major Catholic institutions like Catholic Charities USA and the Catholic Health Association also came out in support. The revised contraception regulation allows religious institutions to opt out of providing contraception coverage for employers, and enables employees to instead obtain contraception directly from insurance providers.
“There has been a good will effort to resolve this, and we will continue to stay in dialogue,” said Sr. Anne Curtis with the Institute Leadership Team of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas.
The Catholic organizations in support represent a broad cross-section of the Catholic community and the biggest providers of social services:
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Today, national faith leaders and organizations are celebrating the White House’s announcement of a common-sense, common-ground solution to religious liberty concerns around contraception coverage that protects women’s access to important preventive health care. The regulation expands religious exemptions within the Affordable Care Act’s mandate that contraceptive services be covered without copayment in health insurance plans, while guaranteeing that employees of religious institutions can obtain family planning and other preventive health services directly from their insurance providers. Below is a statement from Catholic and Protestant leaders celebrating the decision as “major victory for religious liberty and women’s health.”
Today the Obama administration announced an important regulation that will protect the conscience rights of religious organizations and ensure that all women have access to contraception without a co-payment. We applaud the White House for listening carefully to the concerns raised by religious leaders on an issue that has provoked heated and often misinformed debate. This ruling is a major victory for religious liberty and women’s health. President Obama has demonstrated that these core values do not have to be in conflict.
Specifically, this new regulation guarantees that no religiously affiliated institution will have to pay for services that violate its moral beliefs or even refer employees for this coverage. Instead, if a woman’s employer is an objecting university, hospital or other religious institution, her insurer will be required to offer her coverage at no cost. This is a sensible, common-ground solution.
In recent days, sound bites and divisive rhetoric have too often pitted the faith community against sound science and public health.The previous regulations caused an unnecessary conflict between the administration, the Catholic Church and other religious institutions. We are encouraged that the Obama administration has developed a substantive solution that addresses the concerns of the many constituencies involved. We look forward to bringing the same level of passion displayed in this debate to other pressing moral issues that face our nation.
Sister Simone Campbell
Executive Director
NETWORK, A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby
Institute Leadership Team of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas
Douglas W. Kmiec
United States Amb. (ret)
Chair, Constitutional and Human Rights Law, Pepperdine University
Terrence W. Tilley
Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J., Professor of Catholic Theology Chair, Theology Department
Fordham University
Nicholas P. Cafardi
Dean Emeritus and Professor of Law
Duquesne University School of Law
Vincent J. Miller
Gudorf Chair in Catholic Theology and Culture
University of Dayton
Kristin Heyer
Associate Professor, Religious Studies
Santa Clara University
Gerald J. Beyer
Associate Professor of Theology
Saint Joseph’s University
Stephen Schneck
Director of the Institute for Policy Research and Catholic Studies
Catholic University of America
Francis Schüssler Fiorenza
Stillman Professor of Roman Catholic Theological Studies Harvard Divinity School
Cambridge, MA
John Inglis
Chair and Professor of Philosophy
Cross-appointed to Religious Studies
University of Dayton
Bradford E. Hinze
Professor of Theology
Fordham University
Bronx, NY
David DeCosse
Director of Campus Ethics Programs
Markkula Center for Applied Ethics
Santa Clara UniversitY
Todd Whitmore
Associate Professor of Theology
University of Notre Dame
Sr. Paulette Skiba
Professor of Religious Studies
Clarke University
Michael E. Lee
Associate Professor of Theology
Fordham University
Tobias Winright
Associate Professor of Theological Ethics
Saint Louis University
Richard R. Gaillardetz
McCarthy Professor of Catholic Systematic Theology
Boston College
Christopher Pramuk
Assistant Professor of Theology
Xavier University
Rev. Dr. Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite
Professor of Theology
Chicago Theological Seminary
The Rev. Canon Peg Chemberlin
Immediate Past President
National Council of Churches
Lisa Sharon Harper
Director of Mobilizing
Sojourners
Rev. Anne Howard
Executive Director
The Beatitudes Society
Rev. M. Linda Jaramillo
United Church of Christ
Justice and Witness Ministries
Rev. Richard Cizik
President
New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good
Dr. David Gushee
Board Chair and Co-Founder
New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good
Rev. Alexander Sharp
Executive Director
Protestants for the Common Good
Dr. Sharon E. Watkins
General Minister and President
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada
Rev. Dr. Ken Brooker Langston
Director
Disciples Justice Action Network (DJAN)
Dr. Barbara Williams-Skinner
President
Skinner Leadership Institute
Linda Bales Todd
Director of Women’s Advocacy
General Board of Church and Society of the United Methodist Church
Jim Winkler
General Secretary
General Board of Church and Society of the United Methodist Church
*Organizations listed for identification purposes only
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More than 40 national Catholic leaders and prominent theologians at universities across the country released a strongly worded open letter today urging “our fellow Catholics Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum to stop perpetuating ugly racial stereotypes on the campaign trail.”
In the lead up to Saturday’s primary in South Carolina, Newt Gingrich has frequently blasted President Obama as a “food stamp president” and implied that some African Americans are more content to collect welfare benefits than work. Rick Santorum attracted scrutiny for telling Iowa voters he doesn’t want “to make black people’s lives better by giving them somebody else’s money.”
The open letter reminds the two presidential candidates, vying for Christian conservative voters, that U.S. Catholic bishops have called racism an “intrinsic evil” and consistently defend vital government programs such as food stamps and unemployment benefits that help struggling Americans.
The full text of the statement and signatories follow.
An Open Letter to Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum
As Catholic leaders who recognize that the moral scandals of racism and poverty remain a blemish on the American soul, we challenge our fellow Catholics Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum to stop perpetuating ugly racial stereotypes on the campaign trail. Mr. Gingrich has frequently attacked President Obama as a “food stamp president” and claimed that African Americans are content to collect welfare benefits rather than pursue employment. Campaigning in Iowa, Mr. Santorum remarked: “I don’t want to make black people’s lives better by giving them somebody else’s money.” Labeling our nation’s first African-American president with a title that evokes the past myth of “welfare queens” and inflaming other racist caricatures is irresponsible, immoral and unworthy of political leaders.
Some presidential candidates now courting “values voters” seem to have forgotten that defending human life and dignity does not stop with protecting the unborn. We remind Mr. Gingrich and Mr. Santorum that Catholic bishops describe racism as an “intrinsic evil” and consistently defend vital government programs such as food stamps and unemployment benefits that help struggling Americans. At a time when nearly 1 in 6 Americans live in poverty, charities and the free market alone can’t address the urgent needs of our most vulnerable neighbors. And while jobseekers outnumber job openings 4-to-1, suggesting that the unemployed would rather collect benefits than work is misleading and insulting.
As the South Carolina primary approaches, we urge Mr. Gingrich, Mr. Santorum and all presidential candidates to reject the politics of racial division, refrain from offensive rhetoric and unite behind an agenda that promotes racial and economic justice.
Francis X. Doyle
Associate General Secretary
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (retired)
Sisters of Mercy of the Americas Institute Leadership Team:
Sisters Patricia McDermott, RSM (President) Eileen Campbell, RSM Anne Curtis, RSM Mary Pat Gavin, RSM Deborah Troillett, RSM
Sister Pat Farrell, OSF
President
Leadership Conference of Women Religious
Rev. Bryan N. Massingale
Associate Professor of Theology
Marquette University
Rev. Clete Kiley
Director for Immigration Policy
UNITE HERE
Rev. Anthony J. Pogorelc, M.Div., Ph.D.
The Catholic University of America
Institute for Policy Research & Catholic Studies
Rev. David Hollenbach, S.J.
University Chair in Human Rights and International Justice
Boston College
Sr. Patricia J. Chappell, SNDdeN
Executive Director, Pax Christi USA
Marie Dennis
Co-President, Pax Christi International
Rev. John F. Kavanaugh S.J.
Professor of Philosophy
St. Louis University
Rev. Jim Keenan, S.J.
Founders Professor in Theology
Boston College
Rev. Thomas J. Reese, S.J.
Senior Fellow
Woodstock Theological Center
Georgetown University
Sister Mary Ellen Howard
Executive Director
Cabrini Clinic, Detroit
Rev. James E. Hug, S.J.
President
Center of Concern
Sister Simone Campbell
Executive Director
NETWORK, A Catholic Social Justice Lobby
Steven Schneck
Director
Institute for Policy Research and Catholic Studies
The Catholic University of America
Sister Karen M. Donahue, RSM
Justice Team
Sisters of Mercy West Midwest Community
Sister Mary Ann Hinsdale
Assoc. Prof. of Theology
Boston College
Tom Allio
Cleveland Diocesan Social Action Director (retired)
M. Shawn Copeland
Associate Professor of Theology
Boston College
Sister Maria Riley, OP
Senior Advisor
Center of Concern
Todd Whitmore
Associate Professor
Department of Theology
University of Notre Dame
Terrence W. Tilley
Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J., Professor of Catholic Theology
Chair
Theology Department
Fordham University, Bronx, NY
Michael E. Lee
Associate Professor
Theology Department
Fordham University, Bronx, NY
Paul Lakeland
Aloysius P. Kelley S.J. Professor of Catholic Studies
Director, Center for Catholic Studies Fairfield University
Lisa Sowle Cahill
Monan Professor of Theology
Boston College
Eric LeCompte
Board Member
Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good
Tobias Winright
Associate Professor of Theological Ethics
Saint Louis University
Christopher Pramuk
Assistant Professor of Theology
Xavier University, Cincinnati
John Sniegocki
Associate Professor of Christian Ethics
Xavier University, Cincinnati
Kathleen Maas Weigert
Carolyn Farrell, BVM Professor of Women and Leadership
Loyola University, Chicago
Daniel K. Finn
Professor of Theology and Economics
St. John’s University, Minnesota
Gerald J. Beyer
Associate Professor of Christian Social Ethics
Department of Theology and Religious Studies
Saint Joseph’s University, Philadelphia
Jeannine Hill Fletcher
Associate Professor of Theology
Faculty Director
Dorothy Day Center for Service and Justice
Fordham University, Bronx, NY
Sister Mary Ann Hinsdale
Assoc. Prof. of Theology
Boston College
John Inglis
Professor and Chair
Department of Philosophy
University of Dayton
Anthony B. Smith
Associate Professor
Department of Religious Studies
University of Dayton
David O’Brien
University Professor of Faith and Culture
University of Dayton
William L. Portier
Mary Ann Spearin Chair of Catholic Theology
University of Dayton
Alex Mikulich
Research Fellow
Jesuit Social Research Institute
Loyola University, New Orleans
Susan M. Weishar
Migration Specialist
Jesuit Social Research Institute
Loyola University
Kristin Heyer
Associate Professor
Religious Studies
Santa Clara University
James Salt
Executive Director
Catholics United
Vincent Miller
Professor of Religious Studies
University of Dayton
Nancy Dallavalle
Associate Professor and Chair
Department of Religious Studies
Fairfield University
James P. Bailey
Associate Professor
Department of Theology
Duquesne University
Rev. Raymond Kemp
Director
Preaching the Just Word
Woodstock Theological Center
Georgetown University
Patrick Carolan
Executive Director
Franciscan Action Network
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Community members, jobless workers from around the country, and interfaith clergy leaders will hold a flower prayer vigil at Upper Senate Park on December 8 at 11 a.m. to call for justice for the jobless.
Millions of jobless workers and their families are at risk of losing their unemployment insurance lifeline if Congress fails to pass an extension by the end of the month. The prayer service will include stories from jobless workers and an action with thousands of white carnations that symbolize jobless Americans. It will lead into a day of lobbying Congress to extend unemployment benefits immediately.
The vigil on the Hill is one of many taking place across the country for a national day of mobilization to urge Congressional leaders in D.C. and in their districts to pass the extension of unemployment benefits.
WHO: Unemployed workers and interfaith clergy leaders including:
Rev. Paul Sherry—Director, DC Office, Interfaith Worker Justice and Coordinator, Faith Advocates for Jobs Campaign
Rabbi Elizabeth Richman—Jews United for Justicee
Imam Johari Abdul-Malik—Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center
Rev. Jennifer Butler—Executive Director, Faith in Public Life
Rev. Michael Livingston—Director, National Council of Churches Poverty Initiative
Rev. Wallace Charles Smith, Senior Pastor, Shiloh Baptist Church
WHAT: Interfaith prayer vigil for unemployed workers
WHEN: Thursday, December 8 at 11:00 A.M.
WHERE: Upper Senate Park
New Jersey Ave and Constitution Ave. NW
Washington, D.C.
Reporters interested in attending please contact: Amaya Tune: atune@aflcio.org
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