Opposing view: ‘A welcome and balanced solution’
For six years, a needless culture war has raged over a ridiculous question: whether women can get contraceptives without involving nuns.
A new Trump administration rule is balanced. It preserves access to contraceptives by keeping the mandate in place for virtually everyone subject to it before. And it protects religious liberty by creating targeted protections for groups such as the Little Sisters of the Poor, Catholic nuns who care for the elderly poor. It would be a terrible loss for our country for the government to shut down their loving ministry.
The rule also protects closely held businesses such as kosher butchers. But most businesses want to continue providing a popular employee benefit. We know of no state suing over the new rule that has identified even one business that plans to end contraceptive coverage because of the rule.
The same is true for groups with moral objections. Six years into the mandate, only two have emerged — both small pro-life groups that object to things such as the week-after pill and whose employees share their mission. Anyone falsely claiming a moral objection would risk millions of dollars in penalties. It’s a lot cheaper just to cover contraceptives.
The Obama administration created much larger exemptions from the contraceptive mandate. Grandfathered plans are exempt from covering not just contraceptives but all women’s preventive services. Last year, such plans covered 23% of workers.
Those worried about women’s health ought to target that huge exception, not the much smaller one that protects nuns. But they haven’t because, as the Obama administration told the Supreme Court, there are many other ways for women to obtain contraceptives.
The new rule is a welcome and balanced solution to an unnecessary fight. We don’t need to make nuns give out contraception. We are all better off if the government simply lets them serve.
Lori Windham is senior counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which represents the Little Sisters of the Poor and other religious non-profits.