On August 1, 2011, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) issued the guidelines and regulations for women’s “protective services,” and finalized them on February 10, 2012. The final rule—popularly dubbed “the contraceptive mandate”—requires all group health plans and health insurance issuers to provide the full range of US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved contraceptives/sterilizations (and associated counseling) as part of the “preventive services” for women mandated by the Affordable Care Act (ACA). These FDA-approved contraceptives include potential abortion-inducing or “emergency” contraceptive drugs and intrauterine devices, as well as surgical sterilizations, all to be made available without co-pays from employees or their dependents.
The HHS mandate narrowly defines a religious employer as someone who: (1) has the inculcation of religious values as its purpose; (2) primarily employs persons who share its religious tenets; (3) primarily serves persons who share its religious tenets; and (4) is a non-profit organization. Thus, most, if not all, religious institutional and individual employers, as well as religious insurers, are not exempt and, under this mandate, will be subject to violations of their religious liberty.
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