Friday, February 10, 2012

Problems with the Conscience “Compromise”

The President has scheduled a news conference at 12:15 PM to announce a “compromise” on conscience protections for religious-affiliated employers.  The Administration’s new proposal will be based on a variation of an existing state-based contraception mandate.  It would now place the mandate on insurers to sell contraceptive coverage.
Problems with the “compromise”
The problems with this “compromise” are twofold. 
• First, while religious employers will no longer be forced to provide products to which they have moral objections, they will be required to facilitate, directly or indirectly, access to those products.  The Administration is forcing religious groups to “wash their hands” of actions they find morally objectionable by placing the mandate elsewhere.
• Second, the rule is not fully repealed.  The mandate will remain in place for other employers who may have conscience concerns about coverage of contraception and abortifacients.  Religious leaders have expressed their strong desire to repeal the entire contraceptive mandate, noting that maintaining this new federal requirement – included in the President’s unpopular health care law – would still create moral difficulties for “good…business people who can’t in good conscience cooperate” with a federal mandate that violates their religious beliefs.
Today’s developments may have attempted to solve a political problem for the Administration.  They have however failed to resolve the source of the conflict:  A new federal edict that forces individuals with moral objections to violate the fundamental tenets of their faith.