The Obama administration?s modest tweak to an exclusion for religious employers from a new contraceptive coverage mandate isn't winning it any points with Republicans, religious conservatives or anti-abortion groups.
But it doesn't seem to have cost it any support from abortion rights activists, either. And that could count as a political success in itself, since many of these advocates didn?t want an exemption in the first place and could have rebelled against even a one-year waiver.
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The decision, announced Friday, leaves in place an exemption to a new contraceptive coverage requirement ? part of a rule issued under the health reform law ? that only exempts religious employers like churches, but not ones like religiously affiliated hospitals or schools.
The only change the administration made was to give these other organizations an additional year to come into compliance with the mandate, which requires all health plans to cover FDA-approved contraceptives.
Within minutes of the announcement, the Senate Republican Policy Committee blasted the Obama administration for ?ruling against [the] Catholic Church.? The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops had vocally attacked the rule as violating Catholic institutions? religious liberty.
?This ruling forces religious organizations to violate the fundamental tenets of their faith, or stop offering health insurance coverage to their employees,? RPC health policy analyst Chris Jacobs wrote.
Americans United for Life?s Anna Franzonello took issue with HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius?s statement that the one-year grace period ?strikes the appropriate balance between respecting religious freedom and increasing access to important preventive [health] services.?
Franzonello said it ?was just adding insult to injury? to put ?an expiration date on conscience clause protections.?
By contrast, abortion rights groups sent out jubilant statements backing the administration?s move, even though many advocates had wanted the administration to get rid of the exemption altogether. They had spent months bracing themselves for the administration to broaden the exemption to placate religious groups.
In its statement, Planned Parenthood did note that it opposed any exemption and the new one-year grace period. But it buried the complaint in the tenth paragraph of a press release that began like this: ?Planned Parenthood Federation of America applauds the decision by the United States Department of Health and Human Services to ensure access to affordable birth control, and not further expand the refusal provision to the birth control coverage benefit under the Affordable Care Act.?
No such caveat appeared in the press release from NARAL Pro-Choice America, in which the group?s president, Nancy Keenan, praised the administration for standing ?firm against intensive lobbying efforts from anti-birth control organizations trying to expand the refusal option even further to allow organizations and corporations to deny their employees contraceptive coverage.?
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This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 2:35 p.m. on January 20, 2012.
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