Following scores of lawsuits filed against the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) over its mandate requiring employers to provide abortion-causing contraceptives to employees, the Obama administration has offered another proposed compromise on February 1 that would supposedly allow religious non-profits to opt out of the oppressive rule. But conservative and Christian opponents of the mandate said the change has major flaws, not the least of which is that it does not exempt Christian owners of private businesses from what they feel are immoral requirements.
Rolled out over a year ago as part of Obama's socialist healthcare act, the mandate was originally set to exempt only churches from forced abortifacient and contraceptive distribution. But as a steadily increasing number of faith-based universities, hospitals, foundations, and other religious non-profits — along with private businesses owned by Christians — have filed suit to stop enforcement of the mandate, citing their moral opposition to abortion, the Obama administration has been forced to rethink its strategy.
That led to the administration's announcement February 1 proposing a change to the mandate, allowing nonprofit religious organizations to join churches on the list of exempt entities. The White House said the change was meant to balance Obama's insistence that employers provide birth control to their employees with the objections “religious employers” have to being forced to subsidize something they consider morally wrong. “He's been very clear about what he believes are two compelling interests,” said White House press secretary Jay Carney of the president's motive: “which is the necessity of and the appropriateness of providing preventive services to women across the country, including contraception, and of making sure that we are mindful of religious liberty.”
The New York Times explained that under the complex set of proposed changes,
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Photo of President Barack Obama and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius: AP Images
