Another victory

Richard A. Sokerka

Another victory for our religious liberty and conscience rights was won last week when the Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS), Treasury, and Labor released two updated rules concerning conscience protections for organizations and individuals in relation to the Obamacare contraception mandate.

Under the new rules, organizations and individuals objecting to the controversial mandate’s provisions on either religious or moral grounds will finally be exempt.

According to the HHS, the new rules “provide an exemption from the contraceptive coverage mandate to entities and individuals that object to services covered by the mandate on the basis of sincerely held religious beliefs. Thus, entities that have sincerely held religious beliefs against providing contraceptive services (or services which they consider to be abortifacients) would be exempt from the mandate and no longer be required to provide such coverage.”

The new rules also cover nonprofit organizations, small businesses, and individuals that have “non-religious moral convictions” opposed to the services covered by the mandate.

Initially, under Obamacare, there were no exemptions for those opposed to the distribution of contraceptives due to their deeply-held religious beliefs. The Trump Admin­istration began the process of undoing the Health and Human Services mandate established by the Obama Administration shortly after President Trump took office. That provision had sought to force religious organizations, such as the Little Sisters of the Poor, to violate their conscience by paying for morally objectionable services in their health insurance plans or face exorbitant fines.

Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, Archbishop of Galveston-Houston and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), and Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee for Religious Liberty, applauded the Trump Administration’s decision. “We are grateful for the administration’s decision to finalize common-sense regulations that allow those with sincerely held religious or moral convictions opposing abortion-inducing drugs, sterilization, and contraception to exclude such drugs and devices from their health plans. The regulations allow people like the Little Sisters of the Poor, faith-based schools, and others to live out their faith in daily life and to continue to serve others, without fear of punishing fines from the federal government.”

With the federal government’s ruling last week providing a religious exemption from the Obamacare mandate for not only the Little Sisters of the Poor but also all other religious non-profits, our religious liberty and conscience rights have been affirmed.