Don’t expect legislators opposed to reproductive rights to tread lightly in 2013 just because voters made it clear extreme approaches to health care aren’t popular, warned the American Civil Liberties Union in a media conference call Tuesday.
We, members of the Notre Dame community, wish to express our disagreement with the university’s decision to file a lawsuit contesting the Health and Human Services mandate that requires employee health insurance plans to provide no-cost birth control coverage to employees.
Now that we’ve had a month to celebrate the triumph of No Copay Day, it is important to look forward and carefully consider what comes next on the advocacy agenda for effective implementation of the ACA’s reproductive health measures.
Today, for a brief moment, we can take time to celebrate a victory in womens health. Because today, most private insurance companies in the United States will begin to cover all FDA-approved forms of contraception, free of co-pays. This is a BIG step forward.
A federal judge in Colorado shows he’s open to the argument that employers should be able to dock your insurance benefits because they oppose contraception. If conservatives successfully open this door, expect more attacks on workers’ religious freedom.
The preliminary injunction, granted in a suit brought by owners of an air-conditioning company in Colorado who “oppose birth control.”
Religious freedom means that the government should not privilege the teachings of one religion over another or deny individual religious freedom. Individuals must have the right to accept or reject the principles of their own faith without legal restrictions.
The Obama Administration is right to require insurance companies to cover contraception for public employees. The bishops are wrong to seek to use the government to limit the decision-making power of American women. And they are surely wrong to call what they are trying to do freedom.
Let us call upon Cardinal Dolan, the USCCB, and their political allies to practice what they preach. Eliminating public funds and taxpayer support for organizations criminally convicted of protecting child predators will prove they are standing on principle.
This week, 12 new lawsuits were filed challenging the contraceptive coverage rule, doubling those already in play. The lawsuits have made a splash by virtue of their number, but when you take a moment to actually look at them, there’s nothing to see. The rule is constitutional, it violates no federal law, and it’s incredibly important for women.
