Policy & Advocacy
Religious Liberty and HHS Mandate Backgrounder, February 2012
Backgrounder on Religious Liberty and H.H.S. Mandate, February 2012
The January 20 rule under the Affordable Care Act requires all private health plans to cover free contraception, sterilization, and some abortifacient drugs. Its “religious exemption” is so narrow that Catholic charities, hospitals, schools, and shelters—because they serve non-Catholics—would be forced by law to provide and pay for services that violate Church teaching.
- August 2011: HHS issued an interim rule mandating “preventive services for women,” including all FDA-approved contraceptives, “morning-after” pills, sterilization, and counseling to promote their use.
- The final rule, effective August 1, 2012 (with a one-year grace period for nonprofits), retains an exemption only for employers whose sole purpose is the inculcation of religious values and who employ and serve only co-religionists.
USCCB Position
- The mandate violates the First Amendment by letting the government define what counts as “religious” activity.
- It forces Catholic institutions either to break with Church teaching or drop health coverage altogether, undermining decades of Catholic witness in health care.
- Conscience protections are a fundamental safeguard of human dignity; this rule sets a dangerous precedent for governmental intrusion into religious life.
Urge your Senators and Representative to co-sponsor and pass the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act (H.R. 1179/S. 1467), which would nullify the HHS mandate’s violation of religious liberty and protect the conscience rights of all Americans.