US Bishops Pro-Life Chair Opposes Mandate for Birth Control, Sterilization in Private Health Plans
Pregnancy is not a disease, and fertility is not a pathological condition to be suppressed by any means technically possible.
I strongly oppose the Institute of Medicine's recommendation today that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) mandate coverage of three particular practices in almost all private health plans: surgical sterilization; all FDA-approved birth control (including the IUD, "morning-after" pills, and the abortion-inducing drug Ella); and "education and counseling" promoting these among all "women of reproductive capacity."
Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston
PrintWASHINGTON, DC (USCCB) - Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, chairman of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, strongly opposed the recommendation of the Institute of Medicine that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) mandate coverage of surgical sterilization and all FDA-approved birth control in private health insurance plans nationwide.
The full text of the statement follows:
"I strongly oppose the Institute of Medicine's recommendation today that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) mandate coverage of three particular practices in almost all private health plans: surgical sterilization; all FDA-approved birth control (including the IUD, "morning-after" pills, and the abortion-inducing drug Ella); and "education and counseling" promoting these among all "women of reproductive capacity."
"Pregnancy is not a disease, and fertility is not a pathological condition to be suppressed by any means technically possible. The IOM report claims it would have good reason to recommend mandatory coverage for surgical abortions as well, if such a mandate were not prevented by law. But most Americans surely see that abortion is not healthy or therapeutic for unborn children, and has physical and mental health risks for women which can be extremely serious. 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.
"The single largest abortion provider in the United States, Planned Parenthood, is celebrating the IOM's report. If the HHS does likewise and implements its recommendations, these controversial practices will be mandated for all insurance plans - public and private - without co-pay from anyone receiving them. The considerable cost of these practices will be paid by all who participate in health coverage, employers and employees alike, including those who conscientiously object to Planned Parenthood's agenda.
"Without sufficient legal protection for rights of conscience, such a mandate would force all men, women and children to carry health coverage that violates the deeply-held moral and religious convictions of many. This new threat to conscience makes it especially critical for Congress to pass the "Respect for Rights of Conscience Act" introduced by Reps. Jeff Fortenberry and Dan Boren (HR 1179). I am writing to all members of Congress to urge their co-sponsorship.
"The IOM missed an opportunity to promote better health care for women that is life-affirming and truly compassionate. I once again urge the Department of Health and Human Services to focus on the need of all Americans, including immigrants and the poor, for basic life-saving health coverage - not on mandating controversial elective practices in ways that undermine the good of women and children, the consciences of employers, employees and health plan providers, and the common good."
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Thank you Catholic Online for informing me of this news. I would not know about the USCCB Pro-Life Bishops stand on another Obama Admin policy if you had not published it. My local priests will not say a thing about this, nor will I read anything about this in the church bulletin. Perhaps I should understand that Pro-Life is against their religion.
Everett Mann: "Every time, then, you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes! This means that whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily sins against the body and blood of the Lord." 1 Corinthians 11:26 & 27 So, go ahead. Receive the Sacraments in mortal sin. That would be called committing a Sacrilege. Five NON-NEGOTIABLE teachings of the Catholic Church are: MUST vote against abortion, embryonic stem cell research, gay marriage, euthanasia and cloning. To not do so is a grave sin. I will pray that the Holy Spirit will open your eyes and your heart and bring you back to full communion with the Church. I will also pray for your soul.
KL: I'm apalled at your post. Just because something is legal, doesn't make it morally right. GOD'S LAWS ARE ABOVE MAN'S LAWS. Anyone violating them will have to be accountable to God one day. How are you going to explain to him why you committed all those abortions Yes, blood is on your hands whether you physicaly committed those abortions or not. We are on this Earth to serve God and God only and by serving God, we serve others. NO Catholic or Christian or anyone else for that matter should accept the killing of innocent babies in what is supposed to be the safest place for them. We are to fight evil not condone it. What on earth have we become? I will pray for your soul.
According to Everett Mann: "I am not going to stand in the way of someone seeking one, either. Why, Everett, that is un Catholic, against our teachings etc. you will say. I will retort, but it is perfectly within a US Citizens constitutional rights."
Same logic follows... killing of Jews under Hitler did not prevent Catholics in US to go to Mass. It was, moreover, legal to exterminate Jews and other races in Hitler's Germany. Personally, many people were against that kind of policy but they really should not stand in the way...
...killing of babies in their mother's wombs, well, too bad for the little ones. Luck my mother kept me. Now that I am a survivor, I can go to Mass and worship God and practice my faith..and I will say to God: "God my Father, thanks so much for my mom who spared me...but since it is legal in US to kill babies, please do not blame me if I did not stop anyone to exercise their legal rights to kill babies...by the way, those Catholics who try to stop killing babies should stop doing so because they are violating a legal human right...so God please tell them how wrong those Catholics are.. Amen"
Everett, how did owning slaves prohibit the exercise of religion for slave owners? It didn't. Turns out that had nothing to do with why the country finally came to its senses and abolished slavery. In fact, it was a grave evil and a supreme injustice to human dignity. I suppose you might have said that you personally didn't espouse slavery, but you wouldn't stand in the way of someone else owning one? After all, it was perfectly legal. As a matter of fact, everything Hitler did in Germany was perfectly legal. Abortion is about human rights. It is about the child in the womb being murdered. It is never a "right" to take the life of an innocent human being. The fact that it is legal in the U.S. only means that we have once again lost our way through a bad law. We seek to abolish abortion not because it prohibits our exercise of religion -- but because it is a grave evil and a supreme injustice to human dignity.
Abortion is against all of humanity and it is the death of a human person. Everett what has religion got to do with that. Go on to the site of Priests for life and see the pictures,the result of abortion,aborted fetuses. It is simply devastation. The Culture of death is evident when a human persons death is the result of some sort of convience. The sexual revolution was all about if you can't be with the one you love than love the one you are with. Random sexual behavior has made abortion the choice of convience and a form of legal murder due to unwanted pregnancies.Abstinence from sexual activity and waiting until one is married is what will put an end to the maddness that is abortion. Insanity in society is what it is don't blame religion,the blame is the result of the sin called promiscuity,because death is mandated as okay,to promote this rampant desire to be sexually promiscuous. Skewed logic is the order of the day. This maddness is like watching the devastation that occurs in the aftermath of a tornado. The so called sexual revolution is the tornado and the death of the unborn is the result that is the devastation. Humanity is not any the better and is a lot worse because this choice for abortion demonstrates that through our own free will the more intelligent a species might be the more destructive that species chooses to be. Humans are unique as only people will make the choice for evil and call it good. If you believe in good over evil than it is a duty to speak against ignorance. Ignorance ignores the common law whenever it is convenient and that is what immorality is. Notice that I haven't mentioned God once in this dissertation. Prayer is an answer,the answer for me not burning a woman at the stake as a witch because she did abort,I pray for her as well.
Before I go forward, please understand I personally do not espouse abortion. I would not suggest it to anyone. With that said, I am not going to stand in the way of someone seeking one, either.
Why, Everett, that is un Catholic, against our teachings etc. you will say.
I will retort, but it is perfectly within a US Citizens constitutional rights.
R.B and DLL, please explain how abortion rights prohibit your right to exercise your religion. Not a single person on this forum has been able to do that. Know why? Because you can't. Abortion rights do not prevent you from attending mass, participating in the sacrements, praying, or otherwise exercising your religious freedoms. Berating young ladies as they enter a clinic is not you exercising your religious freedom. Freedom of religion does not mean enforce your religion on others.
There are many things that are legal that I do not agree with. I do not smoke but it is legal. I drink but maybe have one or two a month. Fireworks are legal here in WA State but I do not buy them. I do own a hunting rifle. Tatoos are legal but I do not have one. I do not dye my hair. All of this legal and not a single one of them interferes with me attending mass, participating in the sacrements, or otherwise exercising my freedom of religion.
As for insurance companies, they are NOT bound by the US Constitution to provide/ protect anyone's rights. Only the government is bound by the Constitution to protect us. You all should know as this why the Affordable Health Care Act has been challenged in the courts.
Hey...I've got a question...! Why don't people stop the silly exorbitant practice of going to the physician except when they're actually ailing/sick? This "regular checkup" practice (when there's nothing wrong with you) in my mind is just a support web for hypochondriac parents to train hypochondriac children (and physicians to make huge sums of $$). I was brought up in this system...told that I had eye problems that needed glasses (these glasses made seeing a real bother and often gave me terrible headaches), an underactive thyroid that needed hormonal supplemental regulation, that I was depressed and needed anti-depressants (these drugs made me feel utterly inhuman), also (though I never started it) was pushed in my teen years to get on hormonal "birth control"... I only found out later that there was really nothing wrong with me. No need for glasses, no need for thyroid supplements, no need for anti-depressants... My parents never would have been able to pay for these false services were it not for health care insurance picking up the bulk of the cost (up to 80%). Now...I have no insurance. I rarely go to the physician, either, and when I do, I pay cash for services rendered. I live a pretty contented and full life, as well. So...now I'm wondering: If you can't afford something...maybe you weren't meant to have it?
Pregnancy is a disease if you believe President Obama and I quote" I wouldn't want to have one of my daughters punished by having a baby". Choice makes an unwanted pregnancy a disease if no moral teaching is given to children anymore. A moral society is a blessing,an amoral society is a curse and an immoral society is simply a criminal one. A moral society is a free society the other choices are oppressive and a choice for evil itself. Abortion is evil and the termination of a human life. If a country or an insurance company stands by abortion as a right sort of medical treatment than there is no meaning to the proclamation of "Life,liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
Abortion is a horrible scandle tampering with our Rights to Religion which includes our religious beliefs it needs to be rooted out and will be rooted out
all law makers should realize that abortion kills generations of people not just one person but millions
The UnitedStates and all countries should know that our consciences are governed by Natural Moral Laws meaning even if one doesn't know all of the Commandments of GOD we know by nature what is wrong or right GOD has put these laws in our minds so we have no excuse
There are many people afflicted with depression and sadness because of all these horrible laws aimed at convience when actually we are falling into the hands of injustice
WE should not let our countries law makers make these mistakes we must vote for the protection of life and we should pray for our law makers to have a change of heart and mind and look at the big picture we respect GOD we are not all athiest we as Christians will continue to stand up for the our brothers and sisters in the womb yes the unborn after all we were once in the womb ourselves
Read the book of Maccabees and it will show you what happens when we allow the laws of GOD to be thrown out of our society
Think about a country in peace with all its children in place at the right time because abortion is no more and all of GODS creation will love again we can make this change there is no such thing as over population because GOD will make the earth plentiful again.