The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is butting heads with the USCCB over legislation that would compel all health plans to provide mandatory coverage of elective sterilization and contraception. There is a "conscience clause" that would provide religious exemption but it is so restricted that few if any religious organizations serving the general public would be able to meet it. Details at Against the Grain (September 25, 2011).
Sister Mary Ann Walsh of the USCCB, to which I make reference, is quite the blogger -- she gives the HHS a piece of her mind here and here. But Against the Grain (first link above) has the most concise synopsis.
[Hat tip to C.B.]
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" A religious employer is one that: (1) has the inculcation of religious values as its purpose; (2) primarily employs persons who share its religious tenets; (3) primarily serves persons who share its religious tenets; and (4) is a non-profit organization under Internal Revenue Code section 6033(a)(1) and section 6033(a)(3)(A)(i) or (iii). 45 C.F.R. §147.130(a)(1)(iv)(B)."
My three step solution would be to (1) hire only Catholics, (2) offer a health plan only to Catholic employees, and (3) avoid all blindly ecumenical hiring and servicing gestures in the future.
And if President Black Jesus' HHS comes back with more complaints, which of course it will, retain the services of a rainbow coalition of really shrewd lawyers to tie up HHS in court until November, 2012.
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