WASHINGTON – Many church-affiliated institutions will have to cover free birth control for their employees, the Obama administration announced Friday in an election-year decision certain to upset conservatives and add to the national debate about the reach of government.
Granting a concession, however, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said nonprofit institutions such as church-affiliated hospitals, colleges and social service agencies will have one year more to comply with the requirement than most other employers.
“I believe this proposal strikes the appropriate balance between respecting religious freedom and increasing access to important preventive services,” Sebelius said in a statement.
That’s unlikely to stop a determined effort by social conservatives to block or overturn the requirement.
The decision is “a radical incursion into freedom of conscience,” said Deirdre McQuade, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. “Never before in U.S. history has the federal government forced citizens to purchase directly what violates
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