Catholic Online Forum

WASHINGTON, D.C., January 14, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has criticized the US bishops for opposing free birth control under the new health care law, saying that the Catholic leaders “cannot interfere” into the matter “by turning their religious beliefs into federal law.”

The ACLU made the remarks in a January 12 hearing before an Institute of Medicine committee, which has been charged with determining what should be covered as preventive care under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The group called birth control coverage “good medicine” and “a critical component of basic health care for women.”

“Whether the new health guidelines should mandate contraceptive coverage is not a religious question, as the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has argued,” read the statement, which the organization posted online. “It is critical that the guidelines that the Department of Health and Human Services issues later this year recognize the importance of birth control as preventive care and put an end to politicians and faith leaders imposing their religious beliefs on women and their families.”

“Religious leaders are free to express their belief that birth control is immoral, but they cannot interfere in our personal decision making by turning their religious beliefs into federal law and taking away access to critical health care,” the statement concluded.

It would seem the ACLU picks and chooses

Daniel,

Bishops not allowed to protest? I hate to be a wet blanket, but the sentence I quoted seems to directly contradict your headline.

ACLU statement for January 12, 2011, Institute of Medicine hearing on Preventive Services Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

Thank you for this opportunity to speak. On behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union, I offer the following comments on the importance of covering birth control as a preventive service under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. In addition to the proven health benefits of
ensuring access to contraception, we believe that birth control is a personal, private decision that should be made by a woman in consultation with her doctor.

Put simply, contraception is a matter of health and individual conscience. Whether the new health guidelines should mandate contraceptive coverage is not a religious question, as the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has argued. It is critical that the guidelines that the Department of Health and Human Services issues later this year recognize the importance of birth control as preventive care and put an end to politicians and faith leaders imposing their religious beliefs on women and their families. We ask this body to recommend that HHS include family planning in the final list of preventive services.

In addition to being good medicine, requiring insurance policies to cover contraception is perfectly consistent with the Federal Constitution. Courts that have considered this question have consistently upheld contraceptive mandates—including those that apply to religiously affiliated insurers. They have upheld these mandates as they are generally applicable and neutral; in other words, their main purpose is to ensure gender equality rather than to suppress or burden conduct based on religious belief. Covering contraception as a preventive service under the new health care law serves a compelling public interest in ensuring that women can get the birth control they need while respecting private decision making.

Access to safe and effective contraception is a critical component of basic health care for women. Without contraception, women have more unplanned pregnancies and are less likely to obtain adequate prenatal care in a timely manner. Access to contraception also helps women and couples decide based on their own religious beliefs and personal circumstances whether and when to have children. Currently publicly funded programs such as Medicaid and the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program and nearly 90 percent of employer-purchased insurance plans cover contraception. It is imperative that the new health insurance program recognize the obvious importance of contraception as a preventive service.

In America, we are all free to decide, based on our own moral and religious beliefs, whether and when to have children. For many of us, religious beliefs influence the decisions we make. These beliefs, however, cannot be mandated by law; they are a matter of personal conscience and individual choice. Religious leaders are free to express their belief that birth control is immoral, but they cannot interfere in our personal decision making by turning their religious beliefs into federal law and taking away access to critical health care.

I have to agree with David. The ACLU disagrees with the USCCB on whether or not contraception should be required to be provided by compliant health care plans, and specifies that they disagree because the USCCB is trying to make it a religious issue. The statement makes no comment on whether the USCCB should be permitted ot make statements or demonstrations on the matter.

I do not see how USCCB is is trying to make a matter of legislation a religious issue?

Clearly the issue entails debate, and opinion input regarding the matter -the ACLU clearly is stating that religious premise is illegitimate premise and want the USCCB to have no seat at the table.

I agree with you; the USCCB is NOT making the matter religious. They have a very strong natural law and conscience clause case. But the ACLU is (incorrectly) asserting that the USCCB *IS* opposing it on the basis of religion. But they are not claiming that the USCCB should not be permitted to comment, protest, or otherwise comment on the issue.


No, they're not stating any such thing.

P.S. That was not my headline. My headline would have probably been: "Communist ACLU attempts to eliminate religious premise from all from public discourse"

Monsignor Ignacio Barreiro-Carámbula, interim president of Human Life International, said in an email to LifeNews.com that the ACLU is off base.

“First, the letter from counsel of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) made an argument based entirely on objective information available to every reasonable person. It was clearly not a ‘religious argument’ as the ACLU states,” he said. “Thus, it must be the position of the ACLU that anything that comes from a religious entity is de facto a religious argument, even if it uses no religious premises, and thus is not welcome in the public square. This is utterly unconstitutional as a grave offense to the first amendment, and if accepted as reasoning by the federal government, represents an acceptance of religious bigotry.”

Barreiro-Carámbula also said the ACLU would put women at risk because birth control pills have a known cancer risk and the ACLU is calling for it “to be prescribed to unsuspecting women, and paid for by the government.”

I will pray that the ACLU is disbanded as soon as possible.