"Whatever you think of artificial birth control, [the Department of Health and Human Services'] command that everyone, including churches, must pay for it exalts ideology over conscience and common sense."
-- Sister Mary Ann Walsh, Director of Media Relations for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
Likewise, this headline from Catholic News Service says it all: "Across political spectrum, HHS action draws religious liberty protests." When Bill Donohue, president of the conservative Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, protests the HHS' recent announcement that contraceptives and sterilization procedures will be considered mandatory preventative services for women, one is hardly surprised. When Stephen Schneck of CUA's Institute for Policy Research & Catholic Studies and Sister Carol Keehan, president and CEO of the Catholic Health Association, voice similar concerns -- that "those of us who joined 'Catholics for Sebelius' did not do so to see our conscience rights eviscerated," as Schneck wrote in the National Catholic Reporter -- you know someone's struck a nerve. (As the CNS article points out, Schneck had supported Kathleen Sebelius' nomination as head of HHS, despite her pro-abortion stance. Likewise, when Sister Keehan expressed the Catholic Health Association's ultimate support of President Obama's health care law, her action fueled commentary on a growing rift between the CHA and the U.S. bishops.)
-- Elizabeth Hansen
Read more:
What's wrong with HHS birth control mandate?, via Mercatornet
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