I’d love to be able to start this piece off by ominously saying “And so it begins.” But that’s not the truth. The truth is that we’re so far past the beginning that all we can pray for is that the end is coming soon. (Not the END END. But an end to the government encroachment of religion.)
But nothing in America is as it was. Remember the conscience protections that we all heard about and promises from the White House that they wouldn’t interfere with people’s religious beliefs. Yeah, well not so much.
Here we have the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission attempting to force a small Catholic college to include coverage for artificial contraception in it’s employee health plan.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has ruled that a small Catholic college must include coverage for artificial contraceptives in its employee health insurance plan, raising new concerns about the need for conscience protections and religious exemptions in America’s health care policies.
The Cardinal Newman Society (CNS) today sent a letter to EEOC acting chairman Stuart Ishimaru, noting that “it is ironic that the federal agency responsible for protecting against discrimination has so blatantly engaged in an inexcusable violation of religious liberty in its Belmont Abbey ruling.”
“No Catholic college or other institution should be required by government to violate the Catholic Church’s clear moral teachings,” said Patrick J. Reilly, President of The Cardinal Newman Society. “The apparently increasing insensitivity to religious beliefs should frighten all employers and employees. We urge religious leaders to stand in defense of Belmont Abbey College….”
Read the rest at the Cardinal Newman Society.
The reason for the change is that the EEOC says that because only women take oral contraceptives, that not having them in the plan is discriminatory against women. What?! Well, only women can have abortions so I’d guess that not having that in the plan would also be discriminatory against women.
But all of that is just a smokescreen anyway. They’re doing it because they want to stamp out religion in public life. And they’ll hang their hat on every jot and tittle of their laws and regulations to make it happen. And there won’t be any big legislation passed or a press conference. All the important action will be handled by bureaucrats and lawyers.
This is not the first shot fired but it’s an important one.
HT Culture War Notes
August 11, 2009 at 4:30 am
Hm . . . I would think that the equal thing would be to require a plan to either cover oral contraceptives for both men and women or to cover them for neither. But then, maybe the question is supposed to be above my pay grade.
August 11, 2009 at 11:33 am
I had the same thought, Anon.
August 11, 2009 at 2:05 pm
Time to take it to the courts…at least go down fighting…However, if SCOTUS rules in a way that is not pleasing to the EEOC, I can see a "So Justice Roberts has ruled, so let him enforce it" scenario…
August 11, 2009 at 2:30 pm
Thy kingdom come.
August 11, 2009 at 2:54 pm
Like a frog in a pot of water that is slowly boiling, our Christian sensibilities will be scalled into death by slight inperceptible degree if we let these things pass.
August 11, 2009 at 4:16 pm
But what can we do? I've contacted my senators several times on many issues and it seems that they just keep towing the party line and bulldozing us into socialism. It gets frustrating when you feel that you have no voice other than the voting booth. I won't be voting for those senators by the way, and I've told my family and friends about it too… it just doesnt seem enough.
When things like this happen, what do you do? Do what you can and say the rest is up to God? His ways and timelines are a bit slow and frustrating for me, but maybe that's what I'm supposed to be learning right now- patience and trust:). Sigh.
August 11, 2009 at 5:06 pm
Hi Sarah: I would ask the Church leaders to lead the opposition specially against the current version of the health care reform. If they are sympathetic to the administration, I would donate elsewhere – like the churches in Haiti & Dominican Republic where the children forage the trash heaps for food. Over here, there are food stamps and unemployment benefits plus tons of government programs to help the poor. Besides, the churches here have millions in the bank already; just look at what happened in CT.
August 11, 2009 at 5:34 pm
I have a bunch of friends who go to belmont abbey, I heard about that. How awful!
August 11, 2009 at 6:02 pm
I've long wondered why there aren't any Catholic health care plans. I've been told that there used to be such plans, but they were forced to sell to secular companies when laws required them to cover elective sterilizations.
So this has been going on for decades, and Catholics have been slowly deprived of institutional power to fight the trend.
August 13, 2009 at 2:38 pm
Contraceptive equity is the stance of the EEOC based on Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
Sorry, not a smokescreen for an attack on Catholicism.
August 15, 2009 at 4:28 am
It is perfectly clear what Belmont Abbey must not do. It must not provide coverage for contraceptives. So what should it do? Here are some options:
1. Do nothing. Let them put the president of the school in jail for contempt. When it becomes clear that Catholics won't be forced to do this, any more than the holy Maccabees would eat Pork, then their hearts will be changed.
2. Stop offering any health insurance. Yes, it's a lot harder to attract employees without it, but that may be the price to be paid.
3. See if simply not covering any medications on the school health plan would solve the problem. Less than ideal, but maybe keeps them out of jail and keeps their employees covered.
August 15, 2009 at 11:08 pm
I'm just curious, isn't it an oral contraceptive discriminating against a fertilized egg (embryo) that has a will to live? I mean, here is this mass of tissues… it has a soul… it's like this teeny tiny human being of little teeny tiny cells that keep multiplying… and multiplying… and multiplying… and when mom decides to pop the pill… it prevents this little mass of tissues (or cells) from multiplying, thus preventing it from living….
How fair is that to the little mass of tissues (cells)??? Where are the rights of the little mass of tissues everywhere???
I demand equal rights for embryos everywhere!!!! Where is the EEOC on this? Where are the embryonic civil rights????
On a more serious note: If one applies for a job at a Catholic institution, should they not be understanding of Catholic teaching when it comes to oral contraceptives and abortions – among other things? If a woman truly needs the pill for medical purposes, she can pay cash for it.
August 16, 2009 at 10:59 am
Apparently oral contraception had been part of the benefits plan for years, so the faculty was hired with the understanding that those benefits would continue to be offered. Many Catholic institutions offer benefit plans such as used to be offered at Belmont Abbey–plans that cover contraception.
As for women paying cash for contraceptives, women already have out of pocket medical expenses that are nearly twice that of men. Contraceptives, at about $400per year, are a big part of that.
Why should women pay more out of pocket for health care than men?