The Constitutional Challenge to Religious Liberty GALEN GUIDE No. 9
FALL 2012
ObamaCare violates the Constitution down to its very DNA. The controversy over the Obama administration’s mandate for “free” preventive care is the most recent example. The issue is being disguised as a fight over whether women should be guaranteed access to “free” sterilization procedures and contraceptives, including drugs that can cause abortions. But the real question is whether health plans and employers can be compelled by the government to provide products and services that violate their religious beliefs. The Obama administration has violated its repeated assurances that it would respect religious liberty in implementing ObamaCare, and this mandate is a clear violation of its promises and of First Amendment rights.
ObamaCare violates the First Amendment The ObamaCare regulation gives faith-based institutions, like Catholic universities and hospitals, the choice of violating the fundamental tenets of their faith by paying for the offending products in their employee health plans or dropping health insurance for their employees — in which case they would be fined for violating ObamaCare’s employer mandate. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops called the federal regulation an “unprecedented threat to individual and institutional religious freedom.”
The “Accommodation” is a hollow promise HHS issued its mandate but promised religious organizations it would issue another rule next year — after the elections — with more details on compliance with the mandate. The proposed “accommodation” the White House has offered would require health insurers, instead of employers, to pay for the mandated services. But that is not a solution because the insurers would pass the costs on to these same institutions in the form of higher premiums.
The Constitutional Challenge to Religious Liberty
Challenges to the mandate 43 Catholic dioceses have filed 12 lawsuits challenging the anti-conscience mandate. The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty also is representing a number of colleges and other religious institutions in suing the government over the mandate. More than 2,500 pastors and evangelical leaders have signed a letter to President Obama asking him to reverse the mandate. While most Protestants don’t oppose contraception, they do oppose the Obama administration’s requirement that religiously affiliated organizations are forced to provide and pay for services and products to which they have a strong religious objection.
ObamaCare must be repealed As George Weigel of the Ethics and Public Policy Center said: The anti-conscience rule is “a grotesque overreach by state power, one that threatens the entire fabric of civil society as well as the first of American liberties, religious freedom.” At its core, ObamaCare challenges the Constitution’s guarantee that religious organizations and individuals can be free to follow the teachings of their faith without government intrusion. It is clear that ObamaCare, and the endless government rules and regulations that flow from it, are wrong for America because they are fundamentally at odds with the U.S. Constitution and the civil society that has allowed our nation to flourish.
Galen Institute is a not-for-profit public policy research organization devoted to promoting an informed debate over free-market ideas to health care reform. Request additional Galen Guides by emailing galen@galen.org and access our research online at www.galen.org.