Conscience Protection

LA Archbishop Calls on Catholics
Oppose HHS Mandate
LOS ANGELES, CA, January 25, 2012 -- Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of Los Angeles urged lay Catholics to defend the faith after the Department of Health and Human Services refused to reverse a contraception mandate set to take effect in Aug. 2013.

U.S. Bishops Vow to Fight HHS Edict
Unconscionable to Force Citizens to
Buy Contraceptives Against Their Will
Matter of Freedom of Conscience,
Freedom of Religion
WASHINGTON, DC, January 20, 2012—The Catholic bishops of the United States called “literally unconscionable” a decision by the Obama Administration to continue to demand that sterilization, abortifacients and contraception be included in virtually all health plans. Today's announcement means that this mandate and its very narrow exemption will not change at all; instead there will only be a delay in enforcement against some employers.

Senate Requests Details on
HHS Denial of Grant To Bishops
WASHINGTON D.C., Nov 12, 2011 -- Twenty-seven U.S. senators requested information on how the Department of Health and Human Services graded applicants for anti-trafficking grants and asked why the U.S. bishops’ Migration and Refugee Services was denied one.

Contraceptive Mandate
Designed to Impact Catholics,
CEO Tells Congress
WASHINGTON, D.C., November 4, 2011 -- The federal government's new contraceptive and sterilization insurance coverage mandate includes a religious exemption whose language was designed specifically to counter Catholic institutions' conscience protections, one Catholic health care leader told a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee Nov. 2.

Catholic Human Trafficking Outreach Lost Funds
After HHS Officials Intervened
WASHINGTON, D.C., November 2, 2011 -- New information about the Department of Health and Human Services’ failure to renew a $19 million grant to the U.S. Catholic bishops’ program for human trafficking victims has prompted complaints of religious discrimination.

Bishops Urge Funding for
Religious Freedom Commission
WASHINGTON, D.C., October 31, 2011 -- The chair of the U.S. Catholic bishops' Committee on International Justice and Peace is calling on the U.S. Senate to reauthorize a federal commission that advocates for religious freedom across the globe.

Bishop Lori Urges Action:
Testifies on Threats to Religious Liberty
WASHINGTON, D.C., October 26, 2011 -- The U.S. bishops’ point man on religious liberty urged the U.S. Congress to protect the right to religious freedom in America because of several actions taken by the Obama administration.

Religious Liberty Threatened in America
Archbishop Gomez Warns
LOS ANGELES, October 26, 2011 -- In an article for First Things, Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of Los Angeles pointed to several recent examples of religious freedom being suppressed in the U.S. and warned that the basis of the country's democracy is at stake.

Bishops' New Religious Freedom Chairman
Sees Government Playing God
WASHINGTON D.C., September 30, 2011 -- Emerging threats to religious freedom have inspired the U.S. bishops to establish a new committee for its protection. Its chairman sees government taking God's place as the source of the “first freedom.”

HHS's Contraceptive Mandate
Violates Conscience Rights
Send Comments Before September 30
WASHINGTON, D.C., September 1, 2011 -- In implementing the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently issued guidelines requiring almost all private health plans to cover FDA-approved contraceptive methods and sterilization as “preventive services” for women. On August 3, HHS published an interim final rule that references these guidelines, and allows HRSA to implement a very narrow and inadequate religious exemption. This action poses an unprecedented threat to the religious freedom of individuals and institutions. Until now, no federal law has required private health plans to cover these services.

US Bishops' Spokesperson Rips
Health and Human Services
for Interfering in Religion
WASHINGTON, D.C., August 8, 2011-- U.S. bishops' spokesperson Sr. Mary Ann Walsh blasted the Department of Health and Human Services for interfering in the work of religious hospitals that want to opt out of providing free contraceptives.

Pope: Defend and Promote Right to Freedom
Message to Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences
VATICAN CITY, May 4, 2011 (VIS) - Today was made public the Pope's message to Mary Ann Glendon, president of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, and the members of that institution at the closure of their seventeenth plenary assembly held in Rome from 29 April to 3 May on the theme: "Universal Rights in a World of Diversity: The Case of Religious Freedom".

Bishop Lori Addresses
Increasing Threat to Religious Freedom
WASHINGTON, D.C., April 27, 2011-- Americans must be on guard against the government’s tendency to treat Christians’ right to stand for the truth as a “carveout” granted or taken away by legislators at will, said Bishop William Lori of the diocese of Bridgeport on Wednesday.

Illinois Court Protects Pharmacists’
Rights of Conscience
SAN FRANCISCO, April 6, 2011-- Life Legal Defense Foundation reports that the Illinois Circuit Court for Sangamon County issued a ruling on Tuesday which held that pharmacists with conscientious objections to dispensing emergency contraceptives cannot be forced to do so.