Changes to ‘contraception mandate’ called accounting gimmick

WASHINGTON—The Obama administration found little support among pro-life groups when it announced on Friday that its controversial “contraception mandate” would shift the responsibility to offer free contraceptives—including abortion-causing drugs—away from religious organizations to their insurance carriers.

The White House claimed the move accommodates religious groups who objected to the earlier version of the mandate, while pro-life groups accused the White House of merely appearing to accommodate religious objections.

The new policy, the White House said, would allow religious institutions to avoid offering contraception in their insurance plans. Instead, the new plan “ensures … (the) insurance company will be required to offer contraceptive care free of charge” by reaching out to women employed by religious organizations that object to offering contraception coverage.

Obama said in announcing the changes, “The result will be that religious organizations won't have to pay for these services and no religious institution will have to provide these services.”

Pro-life advocates said the costs to insurers of providing free contraceptives and abortifacients would be passed on to religious organizations in paying for group coverage.

Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, told Baptist Press, “It is an attempt to deal with a matter of religious conviction with an accounting gimmick.”

Also, the changes don’t address self-funded plans like that of GuideStone Financial Resources, which insures 60,000 Southern Baptists and their families. GuideStone pays benefits directly instead of using a third-party insurance company as the source of benefit payments.

“This self-funded approach to healthcare coverage, which is common among many historic and large church plans, was completely ignored by the President in his comments,” GuideStone President O.S. Hawkins said in a statement following Obama’s announcement.

The controversy began when the Department of Health and Human Services in January finalized a rule requiring private insurance plans to cover all FDA-approved contraceptives, including “emergency” ones such as Plan B and “ella” that can block implantation and kill the embryo — an action that pro-life groups and many Christians view as an early abortion. The drugs would be free for employees.

The HHS rule included an exemption for most churches, but that exemption does not cover Christian colleges and schools or faith-based hospitals and social service programs. Programs such as Catholic Charities, Prison Fellowship and GuideStone Financial Resources would be affected. GuideStone’s Hawkins released a statement before Obama's press conference saying simply, “we will not provide abortive contraceptives.”

Land and others said that an insurance company's money is fungible, and that a religious employer would still be providing the funding to pay for an employee’s abortion-inducing drugs.

Hawkins called it an “approach that does not address the issues at hand for Southern Baptists who oppose so-called contraceptives that can and do cause an abortion.”

“The President's statement today,” said Hawkins, “is an insulting affront illustrating a basic lack of understanding that this issue will not be solved by sleight-of-hand word games. It is a fundamental matter of religious liberty that threatens the very coverage of those dedicated persons who serve our churches and affiliated organizations. GuideStone will never depart from the core convictions it has held dear for decades regarding the sanctity of life.”

Said Land, “Obama showed a total lack of awareness of self-funded insurance programs like GuideStone … GuideStone cannot comply with this, because GuideStone would be forced to pay for abortifacients, which we find unconscionable.”

“This administration,” Land added, “has shown a very disturbing trend of when religious freedoms collide with sexual rights, sexual rights trump religious convictions every time. If the insurance company is forced to provide the coverage, the insurance company is going to pass the cost on to the person paying for the insurance — us.”

Senate Republican Study Committee Chairman Jim Jordan told LifeNews.com: “This ObamaCare rule still tramples on Americans’ First Amendment right to freedom of religion. It’s a fig leaf, not a compromise. Whether they are affiliated with a church or not, employers will still be forced to pay an insurance company for coverage that includes abortion-inducing drugs,” he said.

But Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion provider, applauded the Obama move.

“In the face of a misleading and outrageous assault on women's health, the Obama administration has reaffirmed its commitment to ensuring all women will have access to birth control coverage, with no costly co-pays, no additional hurdles, and no matter where they work,” Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richard said. “We believe the compliance mechanism does not compromise a woman's ability to access these critical birth control benefits.”
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—Compiled by Jerry Pierce of the TEXAN with additional reporting by Michael Foust of Baptist Press

Following is the complete statement from GuideStone Financial Resources:

GuideStone Financial Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention, one of the largest church plans in the nation, was distressed to hear that the President's comments do not take into account the needs of many of the oldest and largest church plans in the nation. GuideStone's medical plan, like that of many other established church plans, is self-funded which means it pays benefits directly instead of using a third-party insurance company as the source of benefit payments. This self-funded approach to healthcare coverage, which is common among many historic and large church plans, was completely ignored by the President in his comments.

The comments today appear to reflect a narrow and inadequate approach that does not address the issues at hand for Southern Baptists who oppose so-called contraceptives that can and do cause an abortion. Even more troubling is that the broader issue of religious freedom was only given lip service but no serious consideration in the President's remarks.
As stated by GuideStone's President O.S. Hawkins, “The President's statement today is an insulting affront illustrating a basic lack of understanding that this issue will not be solved by sleight-of-hand word games. It is a fundamental matter of religious liberty that threatens the very coverage of those dedicated persons who serve our churches and affiliated organizations. GuideStone will never depart from the core convictions it has held dear for decades regarding the sanctity of life.”