On Life: Marching to Two Different Beats
- Jan 25, 2012 - comment -
In a spirited display of deeply held convictions, tens of thousands of activated citizens—the vast majority of whom were under age 25—braved cool, rainy weather Monday in the nation’s capital to unite under a singular cause: the defense of unborn life. The occasion was the annual March for Life, marking the 39th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Jan. 22, 1973, decision in Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion.
Three days earlier, even as marchers from near and afar were making their way to Washington for the march and the rally that preceded it, a federal agency struck an altogether different tone on the issue of life. Its message: private health insurance providers should quickly get ready to pay for abortion-causing drugs as part of their plans.
To be sure, the differences between the two messages surrounding the Roe anniversary could hardly be starker. In the battle over abortion, the government took a giant step backward while pro-life citizens took a collective step forward. It underscores that America is marching to two very different beats on the issue of the unborn.
Striking a blow to religious liberty, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced Friday that beginning Aug. 1 private health insurance plans will be required to provide coverage with no co-pay for all women’s contraceptives approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). That includes so-called emergency contraceptives such as Plan B and ella, both of which can cause abortions. HHS’ announcement came as a final rule on implementation of the 2010 health care law.
Kept intact from HHS’ interim rule, issued last August, is a very limited religious exemption, which applies only to churches and other houses of worship. Religious-based organizations and businesses morally opposed to abortion receive no such exemption. They will have to check their consciences in order to remain compliant. No further discussion. End of story.
In what many consider to be an attempt to head off outrage by the pro-life community, HHS tried to thread the abortion and conscience needle by including a concession tied to the clock: Qualified non-profits that object to abortion will be given a one-year reprieve before they must fall in line with government dicta.
“This additional year will allow these organizations more time and flexibility to adapt to the new rule,” said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, adding that “I believe this proposal strikes the appropriate balance between respecting religious freedom and increasing access to important preventive services.”
From the pro-life perspective, however, a proverbial concerns-based needle was not threaded with “balance” but instead jabbed into the heart of religious liberty. The decision is “analogous to giving a man on death row a one-year stay of execution,” commented Richard Land, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. “You can follow your conscience for one more year.” Simply put, pro-lifers have an extra year before they must begin violating their consciences. It’s as though people holding ethical objections to abortion can simply turn off their convictions like a switch, with hardly a second thought.
What’s more, HHS said “the decision was made after very careful consideration, including the important concerns some have raised about religious liberty.” Indeed, pro-life organizations and individual citizens flooded HHS with objections. The ERLC was among those that raised numerous red flags in submitted comment to the agency. But sadly, those concerns, as witnessed Friday, went unheeded.
Despite HHS’ egregious decision, it did not appear to dampen the mood of marchers who paraded through the puddles of Constitution Avenue, pro-life placards in hand, all the way to the Supreme Court. If anything, it helped to further energize them, putting an extra spring in their step. Many carried banners and waved flags. Others held prayer vigils. Some women, choking back tears, shared regrets of their abortions, while noting the hope and healing they’ve since found in the Lord.
In truth, HHS’ mandate on abortifacients in health care is deeply troublesome. And the agency’s supposed olive branch—a one-year extension for employers opposed to abortion before they must comply—is more so a poisonous fruit. With the mandate soon to take effect, pro-lifers now have one more reason to march for life, not just once a year in late January but each and every day. Prayerfully, a time will soon come when both the government and society march to the same beat—that of the unborn.
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