Proposed federal requirement for contraceptives drawing some fire

Sep 8 2011

A proposed rule that birth control be a free preventive service under the health law is drawing partisan cheers and jeers.

NPR: Conservatives Step Up Attacks On Public Funding For Birth Control
It used to be that opposition to publicly funded birth control was linked to abortion. Either the birth control in question allegedly caused abortion, or the organization providing the birth control (read: Planned Parenthood) also performed abortions. But that's changing. These days, more and more voices are opposing the provision of birth control for its own sake (Rovner, 9/7).

CQ HealthBeat: HHS Plan To Require Full Coverage Of Birth Control Draws Fire, Praise
The fight has moved supporters and opponents of family planning and abortion rights into a new forum, where they're arguing over what the role of government should be in Americans' access to birth control through private health insurance plans. The departments of Health and Human Services (HHS), Treasury and Labor proposed in an interim final rule issued Aug. 1 that birth control be provided in health plans as a free preventive service under the health care law. ... Whether HHS leaders will modify the proposed rule based on the public comments won't be known until the final rule is released. But they've promised to pay attention to what's said (Norman, 9/6).

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: State's Catholic Bishops Oppose Contraceptive Coverage Rule
Wisconsin's Catholic bishops registered their opposition to a proposed federal mandate that private insurance carriers cover contraceptives and other reproductive health services, saying, in a letter made public Tuesday, that it undermines Catholic teaching and diminishes religious liberty (Johnson, 9/6).