Holder vows court battle over contraception mandate

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Fox News:

WASHINGTON – In sworn testimony Tuesday, Attorney General Eric Holder defended the Obama administration's controversial contraception mandate, and vowed that the federal government's legion of lawyers will follow suit.

"To the extent that that action is challenged in court, I would expect that the Justice Department would defend what I guess is in place -- would be that compromise," Holder told lawmakers on a House Appropriations subcommittee.

The "compromise" Holder cited was announced by President Obama on Feb. 10, after a firestorm of criticism from the Catholic Church and other religious groups prompted the administration to revise an earlier rule, promulgated in January by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Under these rules, all employers must provide female contraception as part of their health care plans, with the cost of the contraception coverage to be incurred by the insurer if a given employer -- such as a Catholic-affiliated charity, hospital, or school -- objects on religious grounds. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has rejected the compromise, saying it still forces Catholic institutions to violate their conscience by providing -- even at zero cost -- a benefit to their employees that violates church doctrine. As well, many Catholic institutions self-insure.

In testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius appeared at one point to suggest that some further accommodation might be in store for those religious organizations that provide their own insurance.

"We will have a provision dealing with self-insured plans, who work through third-party administrators, to make sure that anyone with a religious exemption will not provide or pay for or refer people to contraception services, and maintain their religious freedom," she testified.

But that statement did not apply to the Catholic-affiliated hospitals, charities and schools that have raised the greatest hue and cry over the HHS mandate -- precisely because they do not presently qualify for the "religious exemption" that Sebelius mentioned.

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Holder holds out.