The St. Gianna Physician’s Guild has launched an online petition
asking the Obama administration to remove references to contraception
and contraception counseling from its new health care guidelines and to
provide a conscience clause to protect the religious freedom of
Catholics.
“We are going to send a message to the Obama
administration that this contraception mandate is wrong, discriminatory
and violates the religious rights of Catholics all across America,” said
guild president Thomas McKenna.
On Aug. 1, the Department of
Health and Human Services adopted new guidelines for women’s health that
mandate coverage for surgical sterilization and all FDA-approved
prescription contraceptives, including abortifacient drugs like Ella.
They also mandate counseling to promote contraception.
The guild’s
petition charged that the guidelines are “bad medicine” because they
encourage “unhealthy and immoral sexual practices” which will increase
demand for more STD treatment and abortion services.
The petition
said that the regulation undermines “fundamental principles of the
Catholic faith.” It is “discriminatory against Catholic institutions”
and violates their freedom of conscience.
It is “biased” against health
care professionals.
The petition also contended that the
regulation is “misleading” because increased access to birth control
will increase the need for abortion.
It cited the Guttmacher Institute’s
finding that over 50 percent of women go to abortion clinics because of
failed birth control.
The administration’s announcement for the
mandates also announced proposed religious exemptions.
However, these
applied only to non-profit religious employers whose purpose is “the
inculcation of religious values.”
To qualify for the exemption,
employers must primarily employ persons who share their religious tenets
and must primarily serve those who share those beliefs.
“Under
the new rule our institutions would be free to act in accord with
Catholic teaching on life and procreation only if they were to stop
hiring and serving non-Catholics,” Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo, chairman
of the U.S. bishops' pro-life committee, said Aug. 1.
Notre Dame Law School professor O. Carter Snead told CNA
on Aug. 2 that the exemption fails to cover “virtually any” Catholic
institution that serves or employs non-Catholics. He said the government
mandate could require contraceptive coverage for the health care plans
of Catholic universities and Catholic social service agencies.
The
San Diego-based St. Gianna’s Physician’s Guild was founded to unite and
encourage Catholic physicians and others in the health care profession.
It aims to promote and defend Catholic principles and to inspire
sanctification in members’ lives.
The guild is named for St.
Gianna Beretta Molla, a physician and mother who died in 1962 at the age
of 39.
She sacrificed her life for that of her unborn daughter when she
faced complications caused by a tumor that developed during her
pregnancy.
The petition can be found at http://stopthebirthcontrolmandate.org.