On Friday, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius released the Obama administration's decision on the need for religious organizations' insurance plans to provide contraception to women, and to provide it at no charge.
* The decision gives organizations like faith-based universities and hospitals one year to implement and become accustomed to providing contraceptives at no charge within insurance plans.
* Some religious institutions are claiming the administration has given them one year to abandon their faith rather than the permanent exemption they were looking for. Contraceptive devices can include drugs like RU486 and Plan B morning-after pills, which their pro-life denominations feel can abort a pregnancy in its earliest stages.
* According to lifeissues.net, morning-after pills can be taken up to 72 hours after intercourse, and since conception can occur beginning a few hours after intercourse, this accounts for the possibility the pills might interrupt conception.
* According to a CNS News report, there are lawsuits coming by religious institutions on the basis of an offense to their religious freedom. The article states The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty is representing two such entities -- North Carolina's Belmont Abbey College and Colorado Christian University in Denver.
* The Becket Fund asserts religious universities and hospitals never want to pay for contraceptive devices. They were already fighting for a religious exemption because one was not obvious in the original Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act.
* This led to the administration revisiting the original document and ultimately resulted in the new decision giving religious institutions one extra year to comply instead of an exemption.
* Hannah Smith, senior legal counsel for the Becket Fund, said the organizations she represents consider this to be a thinly veiled attempt by the Obama administration to kick a controversial issue out of an election year.
* Smith estimates the decision cannot stand after the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling in EEOC v Hosanna-Tabor. That case concluded the federal government cannot dictate whom churches employ.
* According to a news release by the Christian law firm Liberty Counsel, this Supreme Court decision recognizes strong First Amendment protection of church autonomy.
* In addition to the organizations represented by the Becket Fund, the Christian Post reports other Catholic and evangelical Christian organizations have criticized HHS and President Barack Obama for choosing the one-year time allowance instead of granting an overall exception.
* The Post article quotes a statement by the Family Research Council that this will force all insurance plans to pay for contraceptive drugs even if employers are morally opposed.
* Most insurance plans are required to cover contraception at no charge to women beginning Aug. 1. This decision gives religious institutions until Aug. 1, 2013, to comply.
Sheryl Young has been freelance writing for newspapers, magazines, organizations and websites since 1997. Her specialty is American politics, education and society as they intersect with religion. Credits include Community Columnist for the Tampa Tribune Newspaper, Interview Columnist with Light & Life Magazine, and a National First Place "Roaring Lambs" Writing Award from the Amy Foundation.
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