Viewpoints

5. Federal contraception mandate worries Catholic leaders; Belmont Abbey College files lawsuit

Abbot Placid Solari, chancellor of Belmont Abbey College, and Dr. William Thierfelder, president, talk to reporters and students during a press conference Nov. 18 announcing their lawsuit against the U.S. government over the new health reform law's requirement that all employers provide contraception and sterilization services. The Catholic liberal arts college in Belmont is arguing that the contraception mandate, which runs contrary to Catholic teaching, is a violation of religious liberty and conscience rights. (Patricia L. Guilfoyle, Catholic News Herald) BELMONT — Belmont Abbey College filed suit in November against the federal government over a new regulation requiring employer health insurance plans to provide free contraception and sterilization, even if that runs contrary to their religious tenets.

The regulation – part of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act – would force Catholic institutions and employers to violate their religious beliefs, stop serving non-Catholics, or drop health insurance coverage altogether for their employees and students, the college and Catholic leaders nationwide insisted.

They criticized the mandate as an unconstitutional violation of religious liberty. It sets up new preventative health care coverage specifically for women at no cost, including mammograms, prenatal care and cervical cancer screenings, but also includes services that Catholics consider immoral, such as contraception, sterilizations and abortifacient drugs.

If the federal government does not revise or drop the regulation, it is set to go into effect in August 2012.

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