Obama Compromises on Contraception While Maintaining Coverage
SOURCE:
President Barack Obama announces the revamp of his contraception policy requiring religious institutions to fully pay for birth control, Friday, Feb. 10, 2012, in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington.
President Obama announced a reasonable compromise that would guarantee women’s access to contraceptive care without forcing religiously-affiliated institutions to directly offer or pay for it on Friday. Under the new policy, contraceptive coverage responsibility would shift to insurers and leave religiously-affiliated institutions like colleges, hospitals, and charities out of the equation.
Under the new policy, students at religiously-affiliated colleges and universities will have contraceptives covered directly from their insurer.
The “accommodation” comes two weeks after the Health and Human Services announced a narrow religious exemption that only applied to houses of worship, and non-religious non-profits–requiring other religiously-affiliated groups like universities and hospitals to offer free contraceptive coverage.
"The result will be that religious organizations won't have to pay for these services, and no religious institution will have to provide these services directly," Obama said in a White House press conference with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius at his side.
“No woman’s health should depend on who she is, where she works, or how much money she makes,” the president said, adding that the “principle of religious liberty” also deserved protection.
Obama said he ordered the policy revision because of mounting complaints from religious organizations but also in part because he was weary of watching the debate over religious freedom turn into "political football."
The new policy is set to take effect on Aug. 1. Religious groups will have a year-long extension to implement the rule.
Naima Ramos-Chapman is an associate editor at Campus Progress.
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