The Personalist Project
http://www.thepersonalistproject.org/home/comments/the_bishop_and_the_baby
Accessed on September 21, 2023 - 5:45:13
Here's my question to the Bishops, who made a full throated defense against the Administration's effort to infringe upon the rights of Churches to teach and live their creeds--and to protect their institutional sister-institutions to be free of governmental infringement.
What about me, your Eminences?
I work for a secular institution that will enact the Administration's mandate requiring that my premiums pay for other people's contraceptions, sterilizations, and abortions. So what if the Administration has said that insurers will be the ones who will be required to do this? Isn't my compensation package inclusive of health insurance benefits in the form of my employer contributing to the amount I pay to insure my family as a portion of my freely negotiated salary? If the law of the land says that there is NO SUCH THING as an insurer who will NOT follow the Administration's mandate, then what option do I have? Either you've been outmaneuvered or you don't care about your flock.
Do I quit my job and go to work for a Church in order to avoid violating my conscience? There is no exception to the "individual mandate" even though the Administration has cynically announced that there is no "individual mandate." Yes there is. In decreeing that insurers will be required to do what the Administration says regarding coverage for contraception, sterilization, and abortion, there is no practical "out" for individuals who do not want to pay for such services--except to forgo insurance altogether or violate our consciences.