In response to the Supreme Court decision that the Obamacare contraception mandate can violate the religious liberty of pro-life business owners, the administration has issued new regulations that would allow employees to get free birth control–including those that prevent the implantation of the fertilized egg–without violating the religious convictions of employers.
See the details after the jump. Does this solve the problem?
From Josh Lederman, New Obama birth-control fixes for religious groups – The Washington Post:
Seeking to quell a politically charged controversy, the Obama administration announced new measures Friday to allow religious nonprofit groups and some companies to opt out of paying for birth control for female employees while ensuring that those employees still have access to contraception. . . .
Even so, the accommodations may not fully satisfy religious groups who oppose any system that makes them complicit in providing coverage they believe is immoral.
Effective immediately, the United States will start allowing faith-affiliated charities, colleges and hospitals to notify the government — rather than their insurers — that they object to birth control on religious grounds. A previous accommodation offered by the Obama administration allowed those nonprofit organizations to opt out of paying for birth control by submitting a document called Form 700 to their insurers, but Roman Catholic bishops and other religious plaintiffs such as Wheaton College, an evangelical school, argued that just submitting the form was like signing a permission slip to engage in evil.
In a related move, the administration announced plans to allow for-profit corporations, such as Hobby Lobby, to start using Form 700. The Supreme Court ruled in June that the government can’t force companies to pay for birth control, sending the administration scrambling for a way to ensure that their employees can still get birth control one way or another at no added cost. In another blow to the Obama administration days later, the justices sided with religious nonprofit organizations, such as Wheaton College, that said that forcing nonprofits to fill out Form 700 to avoid paying for birth control still constituted a violation of their religious freedom. . . .
To opt out of paying for contraceptives without using Form 700, religious nonprofit groups can send a letter to the Health and Human Services Department that includes the organization’s name, the type of health plan they offer and the name and contact information for their insurance issuers or third-party administrators, officials said. Groups must also explain which types of birth control they object to and state that the objection is based on sincerely held beliefs.
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