ABC is reporting that the White House, possibly Obama, will attempt to ‘accommodate’ religious groups by announcing this afternoon that health insurance companies will ‘help’ provide the birth control coverage, which I assume means an absorption of the costs by the insurance companies themselves. But unlike Hawaii, religious groups still won’t be able to ‘opt out’ of the coverage:
ABC NEWS – With the White House under fire for its new rule requiring employers including religious organizations to offer health insurance that fully covers birth control coverage, ABC News has learned that later today the White House — possibly President Obama himself — will likely announce an attempt to accommodate these religious groups.
The move, based on state models, will almost certainly not satisfy bishops and other religious leaders since it will preserve the goal of women employees having their birth control fully covered by health insurance.
Sources say it will be respectful of religious beliefs but will not back off from that goal, which many religious leaders oppose since birth control is in violation of their religious beliefs.
White House officials have discussed the state law in Hawaii, where religious groups are allowed to opt out of coverage that includes birth control, as long as employees are given information whether such coverage can be obtained. But this accommodation would not go that far.
This announcement would not go that far. Sources say it will involve health insurance companies helping to provide the coverage, since it’s actually cheaper for these companies to offer the coverage than to not do so, because of unwanted pregnancies and resulting complications.
Here’s an idea. Instead of trying to ‘accommodate’ religious groups, how about we try to ‘accommodate’ the First Amendment and allow religious liberty once again in America as the Constitution mandates.
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