\nSan Diego, August 22, 2011: St. Gianna Physician\u2019s Guild today launched an online petition (<\/span>www.StopTheBirthControlMandate.com<\/span><\/a>) requesting the Obama Administration and Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, to <\/span>immediately withdraw all references to contraception and contraception counseling from the \u201cGuidelines for Women\u2019s Preventive Services\u201d under The Affordable Care Act, and to provide a conscience clause to protect the religious freedom and beliefs of Catholics.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/p>\n
On August 1, 2011 the Department of Health and Human Services directed by Kathleen Sebelius, a Catholic, adopted new guidelines for women\u2019s health that stipulates mandatory coverage be provided for surgical sterilization, all prescription contraceptives approved by the FDA \u2014 including drugs like Ella that can cause abortions in the early weeks of pregnancy \u2013 as well as counseling to promote them. <\/span><\/div>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are going to send a message to the Obama Administration that this contraception mandate is wrong, discriminatory and violates the religious rights of Catholics all across America,\u201d stated the Guild\u2019s president, Thomas McKenna.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/p>\n
The Obama administration is taking heat from many Catholic leaders including the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, Archbishop of Galveston-Houston and chairman of the USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities, said: \u201cThose who sponsor, purchase and issue health plans should not be forced to violate their deeply held moral and religious convictions in order to take part in the health care system or provide for the needs of their families or their employees.\u201d \u201cTo force such an unacceptable choice would be as much a threat to universal access to health care as it is to freedom of conscience.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/p>\n
St Gianna Physician\u2019s Guild (<\/span>www.StGiannaPhysicians.org<\/span><\/a>) was founded to unite and encourage Catholic physicians, as well as others in the health care profession, to promote and defend Catholic principles in a public way and to inspire sanctification in their lives.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\nThe petition can be signed at:\u00a0 <\/span>www.StopTheBirthControlMandate.org<\/span><\/a> <\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n