Friday the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said it could not accept President Barack Obama’s compromise solution to the flap over contraceptives provided for women employees of Catholic hospitals, universities and other non-church organizations administered by the Catholic church.
The administration passed the buck to the insurance companies.
The companies would be required to provide contraceptive coverage for female employees for no additional cost so that the church-related entities would not be required to pay an additional fee. The companies would be willing to do so, administration spokesmen explained, because pills are cheaper than paying for additional pregnancies.
The bishops said that was not enough. They pointed out some of the institutions involved were self-insured and would wind up paying the additional cost. If they had an alternative compromise in mind, it was not made public.
President Obama apparently has agreed it is not acceptable for the government to require a church-governed institution to act against its core principles. His administration, therefore, was willing to take the churches off the hook and let the insurance companies provide the coverage.
What the administration was not willing to do was to deprive women — of any church affiliation — access to birth control medication and services.
The ball is now in the bishops’ court. If they can’t accept the administration’s proposal, they should make one of their own. To be acceptable, it should take into consideration the moral and medical reproduction decisions that today’s women of all religious faiths have made and continue to make.
— Emerson Lynn, jr.
