Republican US House Speaker John Boehner on Thursday blasted new US rules requiring most insurance plans to cover contraception for women over the objections of some religious groups.
“I think this mandate violates our constitution, I think it violates the rights of these religious organizations and I would hope that the administration would back up and take another look at this,” said Boehner.
Yet a senior Obama administration official said on condition of anonymity that the measures had been decided after “very careful consideration of legal and policy” questions.
US Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius rolled out the new rules in late January, saying that “very careful consideration” had been given to “the important concerns some have raised about religious liberty.”
The move, brought in under Obama’s landmark health care reform law, offers an exemption for churches and other houses of worship.
Other religious groups can qualify for a one-year exemption before they are covered by the new measures until August 2013 when they will have to comply with the law.
Sebelius said when she announced the new procedures that they struck “the appropriate balance between respecting religious freedom and increasing access to important preventive services.”
The final rule, which followed an interim decision announced in August 2011, was applauded by women’s rights advocates but denounced by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops and political conservatives.
Boehner cited “a lot of opposition” to the announced rules, which he charged amounted to “requiring religious organizations to violate their beliefs.”
The new procedures have generated heated political debate, with some commentators questioning whether Obama could face a loss of support among Catholic voters when he seeks re-election in November.
Some commentators have suggested any loss of support among Catholics could be balanced by support for the measures among women voters and the young — a crucial constituency Obama needs to win re-election.
Among the services to be covered are FDA-approved contraception methods and contraceptive counselling; breast-feeding support, supplies, and counselling; and domestic violence screening and counselling.
Also included are annual office check-ups, screening for gestational diabetes, human papillomavirus (HPV) testing for women 30 and older, sexually transmitted infection counselling and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) screening and counselling.
Washington, Feb 2, 2012 (AFP)
