Written by: 3/2/2012 2:17 PM
On March 1, 2012 the Senate narrowly defeated a proposal by Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo. which would have allowed employers and health plans to refuse to cover medical services (including contraceptives) on religious or moral grounds. The vote was 51-48.
Originally, health care reform required all employers, including religious institutions (e.g., hospitals and universities) to provide first dollar coverage for preventative services (including contraceptives for women). The immediate political fallout caused the Obama administration to reverse course and move the burden of contraception coverage to insurers. Churches have always been exempt from the rule.
While Blunt argued that the bill protects the First Amendment rights of religiously affiliated employers by effectively inserting a conscience clause into health care reform, Democrats contended that the bill attempts to deny women necessary medical services mandated by health care reform. Some have pointed out that the broad drafting of the bill would have permitted employers to essentially refuse coverage for services that the employer morally objected to (e.g., an employer could have theoretically denied treatment for smoking cessation if the employer had a moral objection to smoking).