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Birth control mandate causing major stir

Speaker John Boehner, R-West Chester Twp., said Wednesday that Congress could act to repeal President Obama's order that religious groups cover contraception for workers.

Al Behrman/AP Photo Speaker John Boehner, R-West Chester Twp., said Wednesday that Congress could act to repeal President Obama's order that religious groups cover contraception for workers.

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Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., center, accompanied by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., right, and Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H. gestures during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2012, to criticize President Barack Obama for insisting that employers must provide health insurance that includes birth control for women.

AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., center, accompanied by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., right, and Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H. gestures during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2012, to criticize President Barack Obama for insisting that employers must provide health insurance that includes birth control for women.

White House seeks to defuse controversy.

By Jack Torry, Washington Bureau Updated 11:38 AM Thursday, February 9, 2012

WASHINGTON — House Speaker John Boehner vowed Wednesday that Congress would reverse the Obama administration’s new rule requiring religious affiliated hospitals and schools to offer contraceptives in their insurance plans to their employees.

In a brief speech on the House floor, Boehner, R-West Chester Twp., assailed the rule as “an unambiguous attack on religious freedom in our country,’’ and insisted it “will not stand.’’ Boehner, a Catholic who attended Archbishop Moeller High School in Cincinnati, charged that the Obama administration “has drifted dangerously beyond its constitutional boundaries.”

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, who also is from Cincinnati, announced last month that under the new health care law championed by President Barack Obama, all Catholic hospitals and schools, like any other employer, must pay for plans that provide for contraceptives, such as the birth control pill and the Plan B morning after pill.

Although the Catholic Church itself is exempt, church-affiliated hospitals and universities would face federal fines if they did not follow the new rule.

Dayton-area Catholic institutions are hesitant to comment on the controversy. “We’re in a wait-and-see situation, but remain hopeful there will be a resolution of this issue,” said Teri Rizvi, University of Dayton spokeswoman.

The rule has prompted an uproar among Catholic officials, who argue that the church opposes the use of contraceptives. Catholics are a major voting bloc in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan — three states key to Obama’s re-election hopes. There are nearly half a million Catholics in southwest Ohio, according to the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said Wednesday that the White House wants “to work with all these organizations to implement this policy in a way that is as sensitive to their concerns as possible. But let’s be clear. We are committed — the president is committed — to ensuring that women have access to contraception without paying any extra costs no matter where they work.”

Boehner said the House Energy and Commerce Committee would consider a bill that would deal with “this flawed rule.’’ Although the Republicans can probably push a bill through the full House, it would face staunch opposition from the Democratic-controlled Senate.

According to the Guttmacher Institute, 28 states have laws requiring insurers offering prescription drug coverage to provide contraceptive drugs or devices. Of those, 15 have fairly broad exemptions. Ohio does not require contraceptive coverage.

Staff writer Mary McCarty contributed to this report.

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