#zubik

Yet that is precisely the argument behind a landmark case before the Supreme Court this week, Zubik v. Burwell. It’s the latest attempt by religious conservatives to deny women their fundamental right to reproductive health care.

Zubik is a consolidation of seven lawsuits that challenge women’s access to birth control under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). It’s the fourth time in four years that opponents of Obamacare have turned to the Supreme Court to overturn or eviscerate the law.

In seeking to hold down overall health care costs, the ACA quite sensibly emphasizes prevention. All health insurance policies, including employer-based plans, must cover preventive services without co-pays or deductibles. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services ruled early on that contraception is preventive health care that must be covered under the ACA.

At the same time, the Obama Administration — over the strong objection of the National Organization for Women and others — gave a blanket exemption to “houses of worship” that insist on blocking their women employees from having access to birth control. It didn’t take long for religious nonprofits like colleges, hospitals, and nursing homes to claim they should be allowed to block their women employees from birth control, too. They won an accommodation that gave them an easy way to opt out. All they had to do was notify the government in writing of their refusal to provide coverage, and the government would find a third-party insurer to provide the coverage.

Sounds simple, right? But that wasn’t good enough for fierce opponents of women’s guaranteed access to reproductive health care. They said that the very act of putting their objections in writing made them complicit in providing contraceptive care and violated their religious freedom. But this argument is intellectually insulting. Employers’ supposed religious freedom clearly does not include the right to force their religion on their workers, who have their own First Amendment right to be a believer or not.

Pittsburgh diocese says NO to Common Core

Letter from the bishop of Pittsburgh , David A. Zubik, describes why the Archdiocese of Pittsburgh has said no to Common Core.

The entire letter follows. A must read for all concerned about the direction of catholic education.

March 18, 2004

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

In recent months some parents have asked whether our Catholic schools in the Diocese of Pittsburgh are using a set of…