By Lauren Markoe
Religion News Service
WASHINGTON (RNS) Catholic and other Christian health care providers got their day in Congress Wednesday (Nov. 2) at a hearing Republicans called to denounce an Obama administration rule that requires insurers to cover contraception.
The rule, part of the health care reform bill passed last year, is scheduled to take effect next August, and mandate coverage for a bevy of services that proponents say will dramatically improve women's health, including contraception and screening for gestational diabetes and domestic abuse.
But several religious groups decried what they described as the federal trampling on their "rights of conscience" if they are required to offer insurance plans that cover morally objectionable services.
"Until now, federal law has never prevented religious employers, like the Archdiocese of Washington, from providing for the needs of their employees with a health plan that is consistent with the church's moral teachings," said Jane G. Belford, chancellor of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington.
One of every six hospital admissions in the United States is to a Catholic hospital, according to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Catholic teaching rejects artificial contraception as immoral.
Republican lawmakers, both Catholic and non-Catholic, blasted the Obama administration for writing a rule that they say forces health care providers to choose between the law and their faith.
"Groups who have for centuries cared for the sick and poor will now be forced to violate their religious beliefs if they want to continue to serve their communities," said Rep. Joseph R. Pitts, R-Pa., a Protestant who chairs the health subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Opponents of the new rule are pursuing several avenues to change it, including legislation that would make it far easier for employers to opt out of parts of the mandated coverage. When asked if they would cease insuring their employees if the new rule stands, leaders of several religious organizations said they would not, but also would not cover services that conflict with their religious principles.
Though federal and state laws exempt individual health care workers from participating in some procedures or services that contradict their religious convictions, the new rule would impact religious institutions that provide insurance to employees -- from hospitals to universities to charities.
Democrats on the subcommittee argued that under the new rule, individuals' conscience rights remain intact.
"This issue of conscience is so important," said Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill. "I consider it as an individual right."
Voicing his support of the new rule, Catholics for Choice President Jon O'Brien, said Catholics can wholeheartedly support the mandate, and should reject the church's stance as unrepresentative and unfair to poor women who want and need the covered services.
"Having failed to convince Catholics in the pews, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and other conservative Catholic organizations are now attempting to impose their personal beliefs on all people by seeking special protection for their 'conscience rights,"' O'Brien said.
"They claim to represent all Catholics when, in truth, theirs is the minority view."
O'Brien's testimony sparked a stinging rebuke from Rep. Tim Murphy, a Catholic Republican from Pennsylvania, who argued that widespread support