Zika Does Not Justify Abortion or Contraception

BREAKING -- The NCBC has released its official statement on the current climate and certain proposed "solution" to the Zika epidemic spreading throughout the world. Given the spread of the Zika virus and microcephaly within the Western Hemisphere, some have recommended the use of abortion and contraception as appropriate tools in the fight against this disease. In the following statement, the Ethicists of the NCBC reply to numerous media inquiries and give guidance to faithful Catholics on this topic.

Please see the NCBC Statement

BREAKING -- The NCBC Response to SCOTUS Decision in Support of Religious Freedom

The National Catholic Bioethics Center hails the decision today of the United States Supreme Court in support of the religious freedom of the owners of Conestoga Wood Specialties Corporation and Hobby Lobby Stores Incorporated!The National Catholic Bioethics Center was a party to an amicus brief signed in support of the religious freedom of the two family-owned for-profit businesses, neither of whose families were Catholic. The rights of these two companies, protected under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, were violated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ contraceptive mandate. We give thanks for this decision and offer our congratulations to the brave owners of these companies who have worked hard to carry on and weather the storm of these legal proceedings.

The Center's release states:

"These family-owned businesses took the courageous stand of challenging the assault on their religious freedom, under the guise of preventative health care, by the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services’ contraceptive mandate. The mandate requires virtually all employers to provide contraceptive, abortifacient, and surgical sterilization insurance coverage, at no cost to the employees, regardless of the deeply held religious objections of employers. Both Conestoga Wood and Hobby Lobby argued that their deeply held religious beliefs concerning the sanctity of human life were violated by HHS forcing them to pay for abortifacient drugs and devices for their employees..."

Please be sure to read the FULL NCBC statement HERE

UPDATE -- Dr. Haas speaks on Role of Health Care Navigators

When asked for a personal opinion to accompany the NCBC's official statement on Healthcare Navigators, The President of The National Catholic Bioethics Center, Dr. John Haas, had this to say:

"The National Catholic Bioethics Center has taken considerable time to review the status and the roles of these so-called Navigators and we are urging Catholic agencies not to participate in these enrollment programs lest they cooperate with evil in the role of a Navigator. While acting as a Navigator might not be unethical in and of itself, it could easily place a Catholic in a compromised situation if a person the Catholic is helping specifies the desire to sign up for plan or program with abortion coverage. 

Also, in light of the continuing contentious relationship between the Catholic Bishops and the Obama administration over the Health and Human Services Mandate for contraception and abortafacienct coverage and the risk of scandal, the NCBC cautions Catholic agencies that are considering participating in these enrollment programs."

Please read the NCBC's FULL Health Care Navigator Analysis HERE.

The NCBC Cautions Catholic Agencies Considering Assuming Position of ACA Navigator and Other Roles

There has been an increasing amount of coverage regarding the role that local people (and in many cases, sponsoring corporations) can or will play in the orchestration of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA)  and and enrollment of persons in the insurance program at the individual level. Referred to generally as Navigators, these local people and corporations will be assistants and are claimed to be available to act an unbiased aides who can help individuals as they make decisions about enrolling in Obamacare.

The National Catholic Bioethics Center has taken ample time to review the status and the roles of these so-called Navigators and the NCBC is urging Catholic individuals and agencies not to participate in these enrollment programs lest they cooperate with evil in the role of a Navigator.

Please read the NCBC's full assessment of the matter below:

The National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC) has reviewed the various enrollee registration roles developed to implement the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) and is advising Catholic agencies to exercise caution in assuming such roles.

 There are three specific roles to assist consumers in enrolling for health coverage under the ACA:

           

Navigator: All exchanges (also known as marketplaces)—whether state-based, partnership, or federally facilitated—are required to establish a navigator program. Each exchange will designate entities as navigators and provide them with grants for helping individuals and small employers with the application and enrollment process. Navigators will also conduct public education activities to raise awareness about the exchange and provide referrals to other consumer assistance resources.

In-Person Assisters (IPAs):  In the final exchange blueprint, the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight (CCIIO) outlined in-person assisters (IPAs) as a second type of assister that is distinct from navigators and other application assistance programs.

Certified Application Counselors (CACs):  Being certified as CACs enables organizations that would likely be engaged in application assistance anyway to help consumers in a more formal capacity. For example, although not all community health centers and community-based organizations will be chosen to serve as navigators or IPAs, they are well-positioned to provide application assistance because they are trusted messengers.

The CAC designation will help expand the network of trained assistance that is available to consumers.

[Excerpted from Enroll America Fact Sheet: http://files.www.enrollamerica.org/best-practices-institute/enroll-america-publications/Enrollment_Assisters_Fact_Sheet.pdf.]

There is a significant possibility of scandal, which is to be judged by the diocesan bishop, when a Catholic agency participates not only as a Navigator but also in providing In-Person Assisters or Certified Application Counselors for enrollment in coverage by the Exchanges.  This is not just because of the morally illicit drugs and procedures which will be facilitated by implementing the ACA, but also because of the violation of religious liberty occurring pursuant to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services contraceptive and abortifacient mandate in the implementation of the ACA.

There are also additional concerns, especially for states that have not banned abortion coverage in the Exchanges.  Pursuant to the ACA, only one plan per Exchange must omit such coverage.  Therefore, those enrolling persons that select a plan that includes abortion coverage are cooperating in a manner that would be hard to justify, even if it was mediate material cooperation with evil (which at times can be justified, as addressed, below).  This becomes especially problematic when the enrollee specifically requests abortion coverage (speaking to intent, which constitutes what is always morally illicit formal cooperation).  

Explicit formal cooperation in evil occurs when the cooperator (e.g., enroller) has the same evil intent as the principal agent (enrollee who desires insurance coverage of abortion for its potential use). Even if the enroller of an enrollee would prefer that the coverage not include abortion coverage, but acts to assure that the enrollee has such coverage as an In-Person Assister, Certified Application Counselor, or contracted Navigator, this could constitute implicit formal cooperation.  Even in the absence of direct abortion coverage, the enrollee may be a person who intends to use the abortifacient drugs and contraceptive coverage, facilitated by the enroller, presenting a similar moral dilemma as outlined above. 

This is unlike a person accepting a health care insurance plan for his/her family that does include the morally illicit coverage, which cannot be refused, but at the same time knowing that coverage will not be used.  This represents remote mediate material cooperation by which material assistance (payment of premiums) is given, which neither causes another person to commit an evil, nor intends evil.  It may make the evil possible by contributing to the overall financing of the plan, not dissimilar to paying taxes.  For such an enrollee, for the proportionate good of the family’s health care coverage, the remote mediate material cooperation could be justified, with the understanding that the family makes known its objections to such public policy and works in a prudentially appropriate manner to effectuate change.

This is the NCBC opinion on the matter, in which we urge that Catholic agencies not sponsor or assume the roles of Navigator, In-Person Assister, or Certified Application Counselors for the Exchanges because of the implications of these actions for cooperation with evil.  Of course, the final decision rests with the diocesan bishop.

Who is Free to Exercise Religion? An NCBC Ethicist Weighs In

John A. Di Camillo, Staff Ethicist at the National Catholic Bioethics Center, has just completed an article that targets and addresses conflicting opinions that have arisen in the United States courts as the Judiciary continues in attempting to delineate and interpret the "identity, purpose, and scope of business entities and the relationship of those entities to their owners and to religious exercise" in light of the HHS mandates and government enforcement of the unjust laws.

John Di Camillo provides a deeper look into the ongoing battle for religious freedom as:

"Two federal courts of appeal have come to opposite conclusions regarding whether for-profit companies can claim religious liberty protections. All for-profit and most non-profit organizations in the United States continue to be impacted by the legal requirement that was established by a provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, and incrementally clarified by regulations from the Department of Health and Human Services, which has come to be known as the HHS Mandate. The HHS Mandate requires that employers who offer health insurance include, at no cost to employees, the full range of FDA-approved contraceptive drugs and devices, including surgical sterilizations as well as abortion-inducing drugs and devices such as ellaOne, Plan B, and IUDs. Providing this sort of insurance coverage is at odds with the moral values and religious convictions of many U.S. citizens and business owners, especially Catholics."

Read the full article HERE.

The NCBC Supports: The USCCB Life Issues Forum

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has issued a Call to Action through their Life Issues Forum. Dr. Marie Hilliard, Director of Public Policy at the National Catholic Bioethics Center said of the press release: "The examples given by the USCCB  are just a few of the many trials Christians have faced as they attempt to defend their faith and uphold moral teaching...the truly heartrending story of Cathy Cenzon-DeCarlo is one example that has been cited for years since it occurred. It is a perfect illustration of what many Catholics are up against in America today, in healthcare and in all the areas of our lives."

As Catholics we must speak up. We must act.

From the USCCB:

LIFE ISSUES FORUM                                                       August 20, 2013
           

Stand with Sr. Jane Marie                                                 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
By Deirdre A. McQuade

Cathy, Sr. Jane Marie, and Christine are three Catholic women whose freedom to work according to their faith is being severely threatened. In March they traveled to Washington, DC, urging Congress to pass the Health Care Conscience Rights Act (H.R. 940, S. 1204), which would protect their freedom of conscience. Now they need your help: read their stories below, watch and share the brief video on their stories, and stand in solidarity with them by contacting Congress today!

Catherina “Cathy” Cenzon-DeCarlo is an operating room nurse at a major hospital in New York City. In 2009, Cathy was forced to participate in a 22-week abortion against her clearly-stated objections. Cathy has suffered deep trauma from witnessing the abortion and accounting for all of the unborn child’s body parts afterwards. She says it was like “a horror film unfolding.” Cathy sued the hospital; but while her employer’s coercion was illegal, she had no recourse in the court. Since then, many other nurses and medical staff have told her she’s not alone. Contrary to their medical oath to “do no harm,” they, too, have been pressured to destroy life rather than preserve it. Cathy and her colleagues need the legal protection of the Health Care Conscience Rights Act to ensure that such discrimination never happens again.

Sr. Jane Marie Klein is the chair of the board for the non-profit Franciscan Alliance, a 13-hospital Catholic health care system in Indiana, Michigan & Illinois, serving over four million patients each year regardless of their ability to pay. Under the guise of “preventive services for women,” this Administration is forcing nearly all employers to cover sterilization procedures, as well as contraception and abortifacient drugs and devices in their health plans at no cost to the employee – the so-called “HHS mandate.” The Franciscan Alliance has been a Catholic system for over 130 years, but does not qualify for an exemption as a “religious employer” according to the mandate’s extremely narrow definition. Soon they will face crippling fines for being faithful to Catholic teaching. The Franciscan Alliance is suing the federal government to protect their freedom of conscience. The Health Care Conscience Rights Act would properly define who qualifies as a religious employer so that much-needed medical facilities and charitable organizations will be able to continue serving our neediest neighbors.

Christine Ketterhagen is a co-owner and board member of a family-run company, Hercules Industries, in Denver, Colorado. They provide excellent benefits, and draw the line at payment for contraceptives and drugs like Ella marketed as “emergency” contraception that can actually cause early abortions, Because of the Administration’s mandate, Hercules will also face punishing fines if they refuse to comply — $162,500 per week! They, too, are suing the Administration so that they will not be forced to include objectionable coverage against their core values. If passed into law, the Health Care Conscience Rights Act will establish conscience rights protections for private entities that are not faith-based organizations.

Cathy, Sr. Jane Marie, and Christine tell their stories in our YouTube video: Speak Up for Conscience Rights Today.  Watch it and then share the link with friends, colleagues, and family members. 

Finally, stand in solidarity with these brave women. Send your personalized email to Congress at www.usccb.org/conscience. It only takes a few minutes!

Thank you for speaking up for conscience rights today!

NCBC Stands with Coalition of Over 100 Religious Leaders and Scholars in Celebrating HHS Delays

Standing Together for Religious Freedom and Welcoming the Announced Delay in Forcing Employers to Violate Their Consciences

On July 2, 2013, at a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' (USCCB) Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty joined over 100 prominent national religious leaders and scholars in releasing an open letter entitled Standing Together for Religious Freedom. The letter calls on the U.S. Administration and Congress to respect conscience rights and religious freedom threatened by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) contraceptive and abortifacient mandate. Despite the fact that the HHS Final Rule with the  Guidance on the Temporary Enforcement Safe Harbor for Certain Employers, issued June 28, 2013, temporarily extended the “Safe harbor” (from faith-based agency implementation) until contract years beginning in 2014, the HHS, by its own admission, states that the Final Rule does little to narrow the breadth of this violation of freedom. Virtually all employers, including faith-based employers with few exempt agencies, are being forced to provide these morally offensive drugs, devices and procedures at no cost to employees. Archbishop Lori explained how this mandate has broad implications for all persons who respect freedom, regardless of a person’s faith, or even their lack of a faith: “As the Catholic bishops have said from the very beginning, the underlying issue with the HHS Mandate is not about any specific teaching. In fact, other signatories on the letter do not share our view on contraception and probably disagree with us in many other ways, but they understand the core religious freedom issue at stake here." http://www.usccb.org/news/2013/13-134.cfm.

On July 2nd the Administration announced that the mandate for employers of 50 or more employees to provide insurance coverage, including contraceptive and abortifacient coverage under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), will not be enforced until January 2015 (from January 2014).  There is no indication of the status of the mandate on individuals to purchase health insurance as mandated by January 2014.  The Administration indicated that it would be providing proposed rules for comment on reporting requirements of employers and insurers pursuant to the PPACA: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2013/07/02/we-re-listening-businesses-about-health-care-law. However, a company which provides health insurance coverage for employees, regardless of the number of employees, continues to be bound by the HHS Mandate as of August 2012 (unless it is grandfathered or faith-based and exempt - constituting virtually few companies - or if it is faith-based and temporarily safe harbored).

The NCBC is a signatory to eleven amicus briefs in support of employers who object to being forced to violate religious freedom of conscience through these unjust provisions, and receives numerous calls from employers questioning, “What are we to do?” Employers always express concern for the well-being of their employees, citing the untenable position in which our government, founded on the right to protect this sacred freedom, has placed them. This 4th of July, more than ever, calls all people who respect our Constitution, regardless of their faith-tradition, to join together in prayer for the future of this great country.

May God Bless America!

The NCBC joins the fight, takes on Abortion in New York

Keeping up their hard work to foster a Culture of Life, as mentioned in the post below, The National Catholic Bioethics Center has joined hundreds of New York state and national organizations in signing onto a Statement of Principles in response to Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s proposed abortion expansion act, as well as any other bill that would further liberalize existing state laws on abortion.  The seven Principles simply explain why the people of New York deserve better than a reckless policy of abortion expansion. Dr. Marie T. Hilliard, Director of Bioethics and Public Policy, and a registered nurse with a graduate degree in maternal-child health nursing, cites the irony of how such an expansion is misrepresented as “reproductive health.”  She expresses significant concern for women: 

“ Have we learned nothing from the Kermit Gosnell case, and his abortion house of horrors in Philadelphia? Abortion is an assault on a woman’s well-being, irrevocably robbing a mother of her child. The expanded policies, themselves, speak to a disregard for women for the sake of economics. Allowing late term abortions in outpatient facilities and allowing non-physicians to perform abortions are just two examples of how expansion of abortion policies is detrimental to women. What women need are caring and supportive persons and resources to enable them to be the woman that all women want to be: a caring nurturing source of life, not death.” 

For more information and to see the full Statement of Principles, click HERE  For more information on the signatories, click HERE.