Faced with an overwhelming outpouring of opposition from many faith-based organizations such as the Catholic Church, President Obama recently announced his “accommodation” that would shift the responsibility of providing reproductive health services from the employer to the insurance provider. But, is this really a solution, or just an accounting gimmick?
Free isn’t Free. Someone Always Pays
President Obama’s plan calls for insurance providers to give free reproductive health care benefits to everyone. The idea being that if the insurance company is providing these benefits free of charge, then no faith-based organization can object to them on the basis of having to pay for something that they morally object to. The question is, are these benefits really going to be free? The simple answer is, of course not.
No self-respecting business is going to give away something as expensive as reproductive health care. Instead, they will simply adjust the cost of all other health care services provided, thereby passing on the cost to the purchaser. This of course puts the burden squarely back onto the faith-based organizations that cried foul in the first place.
Many Faith-based Organizations Self-insure
Even if it were possible for insurance providers to give away free reproductive health care, the President’s plan still doesn’t take into account the many faith-based groups that self-insure, or purchase insurance from a faith-based insurance company such as Christian Brothers Services. Based on what the President stated in his announcement, the burden for providing these services will fall on the insurance provider, with no allowance for them having any moral objections.
Obama’s Plan Makes no Allowances for the Individual
Finally, the plan that President Obama described only applies to faith-based organizations, not to individuals who might morally object to providing these services for religious reasons. This leaves anyone who employs people and has a moral objection out in the cold.
In a nutshell, this mandate will force anyone with a religious objection to these services to violate their religious beliefs. This puts it in conflict with the First Amendment of the Constitution, which states, “Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” By mandating that people with faith-based objections to providing these services must provide them anyway under penalty of law, Congress has made a law that prohibits the free exercise of a religion.
This isn’t About Contraception, it’s About the Constitution
Whether you’re pro-choice or pro-life, this mandate should worry you. If this law is allowed to stand in opposition to the Constitution, ask yourself what they might take away next. For over two hundred years, our founding document has been the law of the land. If this administration can so easily disregard the very first rule our founders set down for us, how long before they begin chipping away at the rest of them?
The freedoms our founding fathers laid out for us in the Constitution were paid for in blood, and separate this country from every other country on the planet. If we allow our religious freedom to be taken away, we may never get it back.
Barrett James, Jr. - Barrett James, Jr. is the author of the sci-fi novel, "The Legacy of Balthazar" as well as many self-help articles about the HVAC ...
