Right of Religious Conscience Restored?

Huffington Post:

Faced with nearly 50 lawsuits by employers with religious objections, the Obama administration announced on Friday new details of the contraception coverage rule that clarify which employers will be exempt from having to cover contraception costs for their employees.

 

Dot-Gov:

Group health plans of “religious employers” are exempted from having to provide contraceptive coverage, if they have religious objections to contraception. 

Today’s NPRM  [Notice of Proposed Rulemaking] would simplify the existing definition of a “religious employer” as it relates to contraceptive coverage.

The NPRM would eliminate criteria that a religious employer:

1. have the inculcation of religious values as its purpose;
2. primarily employ persons who share its religious tenets; and
3. primarily serve persons who share its religious tenets.

 

I'm not clear on whether this will help Hobby Lobby, for instance, and the Catholic Bishops have yet to respond fully. However, "reproductive rights advocates" are "pleased," so it's likely there's a catch somewhere in all the dot-gov babble. 

 

ObamaCare's 22 "FREE SERVICES" FOR WOMEN (eight are "counseling") are listed HERE ... and the 20 TAX HIKES involved are listed HERE.

 

 

Comments

[Tom Glennon]

Yael - This is a statement from the Catholic Association web site - "The HHS mandate announcement today changes nothing, it is just another accounting gimmick and the HHS mandate continues to be a violation of religious freedom and 1st Amendment rights. Catholic institutions, including hospitals and universities and private employers still do not get their 1st amendment right back and are still being forced to either violate their faith or pay crippling government fines for practicing their faith."