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Contraceptive Rule

Contraceptive rule angers some church leaders

The Catholic Diocese of San Diego joins a national protest over a federal rule that will require church-affiliated employers to include free contraceptive services in employee health plans. Ref. Source 9

Rule Contraceptive

Catholic Bishops Support Measure to Stop Obama Mandate

The U.S. Senate urgently needs to support legislation that would apply longstanding federal law on conscience protection to Obamacare. That's the message from the nation's Catholic bishops to members of Congress.

The chairman of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is pressing for a pro-life remedy to the Obama mandate that requires religious groups to pay for coverage for their employees including birth control and drugs that may cause abortions.

In a February 15 letter to all senators, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston explained how the "Respect for Rights of Conscience Act" (S. 1476) is especially needed since a new mandate by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will force almost all health insurance plans to cover all FDA-approved contraceptives, including drugs that can cause an early abortion, and sterilizations. Ref. Source 7

Contraceptive Rule Catholicism Studies

Cardinal: Catholic Hospitals May Close in Two Years Under Mandate

A leading Catholic Cardinal says Catholic hospitals in the United States may close in just two years under the new mandate the Obama administration put in place forcing them to pay for birth control and drugs that may cause abortions for their employees.

Cardinal Francis George of Chicago complains that the Catholic Church is being "despoiled of her institutions" as "freedom of conscience and of religion become a memory from a happier past." He says the Obama administration is saying 'the Catholic Church in the United States is being told she must "give up" her health care institutions, her universities and many of her social service organizations." Ref. Source 7

Rule Contraceptive

Bishops, Pro-Lifers Vow to Continue Fighting Obama Mandate

Despite a vote in the Senate against overturning it, nation's Catholic bishops and leading pro-life groups vow to continue fighting the Obama mandate that forces religious employers to pay for birth control and drugs that may cause abortion.

Leading pro-life organizations called on the Senate to vote for the Blunt amendment to the mandate the Obama administration issued, but Democrats banded together against Republicans to defeat it on a 51 to 48 margin by adopting a motion to table, or kill, it.

"The need to defend citizens" rights of conscience is the most critical issue before our country right now," said Bishop William Lori of Bridgeport, Connecticut who is the chair of the Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Ref. Source 5