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Severe Religious Freedom Violations by the HHS Mandate Remain Unresolved
Stand Up for Religious Freedom Coalition Responds to Proposed New Rules
In response to the proposed rule changes to the Affordable Care Act's contraceptive mandate announced today by the Department of Health and Human Services, Eric Scheidler and Monica Miller, co-directors of the nationwide Stand Up for Religious Freedom rallies held last year, issued the following statement:
Nearly a year after promising to provide an “accommodation” for religious employers who object to the HHS Mandate, the Obama administration has finally issued proposed new rules. While we await a full analysis of these proposed rule changes from legal experts, a first look at what the Obama administration is offering makes it clear that the objections of religious employers have not been taken seriously.
The Obama administration is now offering a complicated scheme whereby employers can “self-certify” to the insurance provider they've contracted with that they are “exempt” from the contraceptive mandate, and leave it to the insurer to arrange free contraceptives and abortion-inducing drugs for employees, or students, in the case of educational institutions.
At the end of the day, religious institutions like Catholic hospitals and Christian universities are still being forced by the federal government to participate in a scheme whereby their employees are provided free contraceptives and abortion-inducing drugs.
It's unconscionable that employees and students at an institution like Ave Maria University, which upholds the unchanging Catholic doctrine that contraception assaults human dignity, would receive free contraceptives thanks to their employment or enrollment there.
More disturbingly still, businesses like Hobby Lobby, which are not dedicated to a specifically religious purpose but which nevertheless operate upon a basis of faith, are offered no protection whatsoever for their religious and moral objections to providing these services. The Obama administration is still claiming the right to decide who gets to exercise freedom of religion in the public square.
We encourage all who have been opposing the HHS Mandate to object to these unacceptable proposed rule changes during the public comment period before final rules are issued in April. Meanwhile, our public protest and education efforts will continue unabated.
Over 250 individual Stand Up for Religious Freedom rallies were held in March, June, and October in 2012 in opposition to the HHS Mandate, drawing over 150,000 protesters to sites from coast to coast. Eric Scheidler is executive director of the Pro-Life Action League. Monica Miller is director of Citizens for a Pro-Life Society.
They are available for media interviews. To arrange, contact Tom Ciesielka at TC Public Relations, 312-422-1333 or tc@tcpr.net.
Contact Monica M. Miller: 248-444-9096, mmmillerlife@gmail.com
Contact Eric J. Scheidler: 773-251-8792, eric@prolifeaction.org
About Citizens for a Pro-life Society
Citizens for a Pro-life Society is an activist organization, founded on Catholic principles of morality and social justice, dedicated to advocacy of the sanctity of human life, especially protection of the right to life of unborn children. They organize public demonstrations, educational programs, literature distribution, and conferences, and offer mothers in crisis pregnancy material and spiritual aid. For more information, go to www.prolifesociety.com
About the Pro-Life Action League
The Pro-Life Action League was founded by Joe Scheidler in 1980 with the aim of saving babies from abortion through direct action. Not content to await a political or judicial solution to abortion, the League seeks to stop the killing of unborn children right now through all available peaceful means, including public protest, sidewalk counseling, education, youth outreach, and national leadership.
