The U.S. bishops “strongly oppose” a proposal to mandate coverage of
surgical sterilization and all FDA-approved birth control in private
health insurance plans nationwide.
The mandate would undermine the good
of women and children and the consciences of heath care providers, one
leading bishop said.
“Pregnancy is not a disease, and fertility is
not a pathological condition to be suppressed by any means technically
possible,” said Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, chairman
of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities.
The health
care legislation passed in 2010 directed the Obama administration to
create a list of preventive services for women that all new health care
plans must cover without deductibles or co-payments.
In response, a
committee of the National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Medicine
drafted non-binding guidelines in a year-long review conducted at the
request of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
The committee recommended “the full range” of federally approved contraceptives and sterilization procedures.
Cardinal
DiNardo noted that the Institute of Medicine committee said it would
have good reason to recommend mandatory coverage for surgical abortions,
if such a mandate were not prevented by law.
“I can only conclude
that there is an ideology at work in these recommendations that goes
beyond any objective assessment of the health needs of women and
children,” he said in a July 19 statement.
Planned Parenthood, the
cardinal said, is “celebrating” the report, and if the HHS implements
its recommendations it will violate the “deeply-held moral and religious
convictions of many.”
For its part, the Institute of Medicine
“missed an opportunity to promote better health care for women that is
life-affirming and truly compassionate,” he added.
Catholic teaching regards direct sterilization procedures and artificial contraceptive use as sinful.
Americans United for Life also opposed the proposal, saying it would fund the abortion-inducing drug Ella.
Anna
Franzonello, staff counsel for Americans United for Life, on July 20
said that her organization had warned about the possibility of funding
abortion and abortion-causing drugs through the health care
legislation’s mandate before its passage.
The pro-life group’s
concerns are heightened by the Institute of Medicine’s invitation to
abortion advocacy groups, including Planned Parenthood, to help form its
recommendation.
The group charged that Planned Parenthood stands to
gain financially from the mandate.
Americans United for Life
called on the Department of Health and Human Services to “respect the
conscience rights of Americans” and honor Sen. Barbara Mikulski’s
(D-Md.) promise that the mandate would be used to prevent diseases.
Cardinal
DiNardo said the threat to consciences makes it “especially critical”
for Congress to pass the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act, which
would forbid federal requirements that make health plans require
providers to provide items or services which violate religious beliefs
or moral convictions.