Ruth Institute Blog

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has issued the following response to the February 2 post on the White House blog.

 The Obama administration, to justify its widely criticized mandate for contraception and sterilization coverage in private health plans, has posted a set of false and misleading claims on the White House blog (“Health Reform, Preventive Services, and Religious Institutions,” February 1).  In what follows, each White House claim is quoted with a response.

Claim: “Churches are exempt from the new rules: Churches and other houses of worship will be exempt from the requirement to offer insurance that covers contraception.” Read more…

By Kevin J. Jones

Washington D.C., Jan 25, 2012 / 05:52 pm (CNA).- A Democratic-leaning Catholic group’s favorable reaction to the Obama administration’s new contraception mandate is being criticized for neglecting the threat to religious freedom and wrongly claiming that contraception lowers the abortion rate.

“This is a real attack on the religious freedom of millions of Americans. People who care about the future of our country should not stand idly by,” said Eric Rassbach, national litigation director of the D.C.-based Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. Read more…

“The Catholic Church defends religious liberty, including freedom of conscience, for everyone. The Amish do not carry health insurance. The government respects their principles. Christian Scientists want to heal by prayer alone, and the new health-care reform law respects that. Quakers and others object to killing even in wartime, and the government respects that principle for conscientious objectors. By its decision, the Obama administration has failed to show the same respect for the consciences of Catholics and others who object to treating pregnancy as a disease.”

Way to put it into perspective. Clearly a double standard and discrimination against Catholics.

The Catholic Bishops of Maryland have issued a statement, “The Most Sacred of All Property:  Religious Freedom and the People of Maryland.”

Despite its title, the principles it lays out and the examples it uses are applicable to the entire United States.  People of all faiths, not just Catholics, will find it a helpful defense when faced with marriage and family issues.

Read it here.

by Carolyn Moynihan

A White House edict tells us to ignore our conscience when we go to work. Bernie Madoff should ask for a retrial.

If there is one thing that disaffection with “Wall Street” has achieved it is the ramping up of moral discourse. Not since the Great Depression, probably, have we heard so much about greed, corruption and injustice. But if you want people to be temperate, honest and just, they have to have two things: firm principles and a functioning conscience. How surprising, then, that the New York Times thinks we need neither. Read more…

Belmont Abbey College enters David-and-Goliath fight against the feds over mandate to cover contraceptives.

Early last month, President Obama bragged to a St. Louis crowd about the recent Health and Human Services’ regulations that will require thousands of religious employers to pay for contraception, sterilization and drugs that probably cause abortions. The crowd cheered the president’s contraceptive mandate. He joined their revelry, shouting, “Darn Tootin’!” to the crowd’s delight. Read more…

by Helen Alvaré

October 19, 2011 http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2011/10/4155

New York Times reporter Linda Greenhouse refuses to see the truth about contraception, conscience, and religious liberty.

I wouldn’t be the first to question the judgment of New York Times‘ former Supreme Court reporter, Linda Greenhouse. That’s already been done by National Public Radio, the New York Times‘ public editor Byron Calame, and a member of the executive committee of the Pulitzer Prize Board, on account of Ms. Greenhouse’s penchant for bouts of very public, very raw, and quite emotional political partisanship, even while she was a “hard news” reporter for the Times. Now, as an “opinionator,” she’s grown worse. Read more…

by Star Parker

Last week the House passed with bipartisan support the Protect Life Act, which amends the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“ObamaCare”) to assure that no taxpayer dollars will be used to fund abortions. It also assures that healthcare providers who do not wish to provide abortions are not forced to by government. Read more…

by Sheila Liaugminas

Given the expressed intent of the Founding Fathers in establishing a free, just and virtuous society, the importance of morality as its foundation, and their recourse to God from the beginning through recent history…it’s remarkable that we are in this battle now. Read more…

by Becky Yeh

A pro-family leader is calling on California’s governor to veto a dangerous bill that he and other family advocates believe undermines parental authority and the safety of children.

Governor Jerry Brown has several days to decide on the fate of AB 499, a bill that would allow minors as young as 12 years of age to consent to “medical care related to the prevention of a sexually transmitted disease.” The bill, introduced by Assemblywoman Toni Atkins (D), would allow children to agree to vaccines and treatments without the consent of parents, including the vaccine Gardasil. Read more…

by Sheila Liaugminas

You are wielding unchecked power, and you are out of control. Please pay heed.

A couple of months ago, HHS announced a new “preventive care” package of services for women to be included in insurance coverage that defied reason and morals. It drew plenty of outcries for review and oversight. HHS left open a window of time for “public comment” that closed at midnight September 30th. Read more…

by Arland K. Nichols

September 28, 2011 http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2011/09/4031

The HHS mandate on contraception is based on insufficient research and betrays the committee’s deep pro-contraceptive bias. Read more…

by Helen Alvaré, Gerard V. Bradley and O. Carter Snead

by Mark W. Leach

September 6, 2011 http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2011/09/3844

Prenatal testing for Down syndrome should not be considered preventive medicine. Such tests cannot prevent the presence of Down syndrome in a child; but they can decrease the likelihood of a child with Down syndrome surviving beyond the womb. Expectant parents need accurate information, including the many positive outcomes, about life raising a child with Down syndrome. Read more…

by Bob Laird

Backlash continues to mount against the August 1 decision by the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to mandate that contraception be fully covered as “preventive” medicine by insurance companies – and thus, “free” for consumers. Most of the criticism has thus far revolved around the lack of real conscience protections for religious employers and the fact that the decision relegates pregnancy to a disease to be prevented. An additional consequence is coming to light which raises serious ethical questions: pharmaceutical companies will now be paid full price for contraceptives that they previously had to provide at a discount due to federal regulations. Read more…

Issues Etc host Todd Wilken’s last question to me was, “If you had 30 seconds to talk to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sibelius, what would you say to her?” (This was regarding the requirement (which is simultaneously silly and offensive) that all insurance carriers provide contraception with no co-pay.) I simply said,

“You need to go to confession, girlfriend!”

I did my issues etc radio show on this today, and we talked about it on my Monday night Catholic Radio of San Diego program: “Health insurance plans must cover birth control as preventive care for women, with no copays, the Obama administration said Monday.”

Later in the article, we learn:

a government study last summer found that birth control use is virtually universal in the United States, according to a government study issued last summer. More than 90 million prescriptions for contraceptives were dispensed in 2009, according the market analysis firm INS health. Generic versions of the pill are available for as little as $9 a month. Still, about half of all pregnancies are unplanned. Many are among women using some form of contraception, and forgetting to take the pill is a major reason.

This new rule mandating insurance coverage of contraception with no co-pay is evidence of the condom-ist ideology, rather than a serious attempt to solve any serious problem.  This culture is already saturated with low cost contraceptives. Cheaper pills will not make women stop “forgetting” to take their pills.

Many ”unplanned” pregnancies are coming about for some reason other than lack of access to contraception, like the women want their babies.  The concept of “unplanned”pregnancy is meaningless.

While adolescents are not as sexually active as we are led to believe, older Americans are more active than you might think.  From the Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel:

Across the nation, and especially in communities that attract a lot of older Americans, the free-love generation is continuing to enjoy an active — if not always healthy — sex life. Read more…

For those of our readers in the Kansas/Missouri area:

MARRIAGE AND CATHOLIC HEALTHCARE. This summer’s “Catholic Healthcare Identity: Medical and Pastoral Strategies” conference at Benedictine College is the NFP Outreach National Summer Institute. The conference, lasting from July 11-16, offers college credit for educators and/or continuing medical education credits for doctors and continuing education units for nurses. Keynote speakers include:

Read more…

by Charlie Butts

The U.S. House of Representatives is working on making changes to ObamaCare, specifically when it comes to abortion funding.

In a 234-182 vote, the House recently approved the Foxx Amendment to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (aka ObamaCare), which would have set aside funds to be spent without congressional oversight. The amendment offered by Congresswoman Virginia Foxx (R-North Carolina), however, would make those discretionary funds reviewable by Congress each year. Read more…