Obama admin. surrenders in abortion pill mandate case
DOJ apparently nervous to continue argument that Bible publisher isn’t religious enough for religious exemption.
Attorney sound bite: Matt Bowman
DOJ apparently nervous to continue argument that Bible publisher isn’t religious enough for religious exemption.
Attorney sound bite: Matt Bowman
from Helen Alvare
I’m being told by members of Congress that both friendly and “unfriendly” members of Congress are not hearing enough from their constituents on the importance of conscience protection. As you know, we need to press the government through every channel possible to try to stop the HHS Mandate. Even friendly members need to hear from you so that the conscience protection legislation stays on their radar screen. Read more…
HERE IS THE CORRECT CODE FOR COMMENTING:
CMS-2012-0031
from Helen Alvare
I’ve been working on several projects that have occupied all my little brain cells, including at the United Nations and around the U.S.
Rather than recount individual developments, I want to remark upon a few trends I have noticed. Perhaps these remarks might provide “talking points” when you are confronting arguments nowadays equating liberty for women with women’s (and girls!) sexual license. Read more…
by Helen Alvaré
The latest proposed amendment to the HHS mandate still draws on empirically unsound data and violates religious freedom.
The controversy over the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) contraceptive mandate is bound to increase, thanks to its latest proposed fix announced last Friday. The rules proposed to be amended are those issued by HHS last year, requiring employers—including religious institutions and individuals and corporations that embrace religious principles—to provide, without co-pay, contraceptives, sterilization, and emergency contraceptives that can destroy a human embryo. Read more…
from Helen Alvare
Well, it’s hard to believe it’s been almost 4 weeks since the March for Life. Thanks to all who braved the snow to come to our gathering afterwards. I was delighted to meet you! And I hope you took as much heart as I did, from just being together.
In case you would like to meet again, I have attached below, a list of the next several months’ speaking engagements in the U.S. Read more…
The basic mandate that employers with religious objections to the HHS contraceptive coverage still have to comply or pay punitive fines still stands. The latest fig leaf changes little, but it took a few days to wade through the dense and convoluted legalese the government issued to essentially say ‘we’re not willing to budge, more than an inch.’
There is nothing new about the administration deciding who gets exemptions and who doesn’t, and that’s the main point. Read more…
From Helen Alvare
Once again, the Obama Administration has delivered an unacceptable “compromise” regarding the HHS Mandate and religious freedom.
Today the White House expanded the exemption to church-affiliated non-profit organizations, but refused to extend it to individuals and for profit business owners—such as the Greens with Hobby Lobby.
I have reviewed it and have several takeaways: Read more…
January 29th, 2013 http://www.thepublicdiscourse.
If the HHS mandate is enforced, our government may provoke a schism in the American Catholic Church and will reduce faithful Catholics to second-class citizenship.
For more than a year, Americans have been lauding or protesting the HHS mandate that requires employers to cover contraceptives, including abortifacients, in their insurance policies. Since many employers don’t object to such a policy, the debate has focused on Catholic employers, who have a moral objection to contraception, and therefore to any requirement that they directly subsidize it. These employers argue, quite plausibly, that the free exercise clause of the Constitution (“Congress shall make no law . . . prohibiting the free exercise [of religion]“) entitles them to a religious exemption from the mandate. Read more…
This month marks the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. We told you we might have a DC gathering while you’re in town for the March…WELL, HERE ARE THE DETAILS:
Time: Immediately following the March—roughly 2:30 onward
Location: Heritage Foundation: 214 Massachusetts Ave, NE, Allison Auditorium Foyer, 7th floor. (Here is a map with walking directions from the end of the March at the Supreme Court to the Heritage Foundation….as you will see on the map, our meeting place is just a few blocks from the ending point of the March and also just a few blocks from Union Station). Read more…