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White House To Offer Contraception Compromise To Religious Groups
By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 10, 2012
Modified Feb 10, 2012
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By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 10, 2012
Modified Feb 10, 2012
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Now that the economy is like totally fixed, it's back to the culture war! Yesterday, Archbishop Timothy Dolan, who leads the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said he felt betrayed by President Obama's decision to require religious organizations to offer woman birth control without charging them through their insurance. Now the White House is prepared to announce some sort of "accommodation."
According to ABC News' Jake Tapper:
Later today the White House — possibly President Obama himself — will likely announce an attempt to accommodate these religious groups.
The move, based on state models, will almost certainly not satisfy bishops and other religious leaders since it will preserve the goal of women employees having their birth control fully covered by health insurance.
Sources say it will be respectful of religious beliefs but will not back off from that goal, which many religious leaders oppose since birth control is in violation of their religious beliefs.
White House officials have discussed the state law in Hawaii, where religious groups are allowed to opt out of coverage that includes birth control, as long as employees are given information whether such coverage can be obtained. But this accommodation would not go that far.This announcement would not go that far. Sources say it will involve health insurance companies helping to provide the coverage, since it’s actually cheaper for these companies to offer the coverage than to not do so, because of unwanted pregnancies and resulting complications.
Nice—shifting it to insurance companies.
Dolan had joined the President and two prominent Catholics in the administration—Obama's then-chief-of -staff, Bill Daley, and Vice President Joe Biden—to discuss the requirement back in November . Apparently Daley, who opposes the requirement, and Biden had warned Obama that the issue was volatile. Biden said yesterday, "[I am] determined to see that this gets worked out, and I believe we can work it out."
Democratic Senators Jeanne Sheehan, Barbara Boxer and Patty Murray wrote an opinion piece explaining why the birth control mandate makes sense, "It can cost $600 a year for prescription contraceptives. That's a lot of money for a mother working as a medical technician in a Catholic hospital, or a teacher in a private religious school."
Tagged
archbishop dolan
birth control
catholic
contraception
culture wars
health insurance
insurance
president obama
White House
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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