HARTFORD- Connecticut’s Roman Catholic leadership is calling upon State Attorney General William Tong to withdraw his support from an effort to repeal the constitutionally protected right for religious and moral objections for employers under the Affordable Care Act.
In a letter to State Attorney General William Tong, the Connecticut Catholic Public Affairs Conference, which represents the bishops of the Hartford, Bridgeport, and Norwich dioceses, strongly objected to a formal administrative comment from Tong and several fellow State Attorneys General submitted to three federal agencies.
The agencies have proposed a rule that would remove moral exemptions for employers regarding employee health insurance plans. The Attorneys General’s administrative comment, in fact, goes even further than the proposed rule by demanding the removal, or, at the very least, a severe restriction of a corresponding religious exemption.
These moral and religious exemption clauses secure constitutional protections under the First Amendment for employers who, due to their moral objections, exclude certain elective services, such as contraceptives, in employee health insurance plans. Despite recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings in favor of these rights, Attorney General Tong, with his colleagues, is now seeking relief in new, updated federal rules. Specifically, he seeks the removal of the religious exemption, a restricted religious exemption in the alternative, and removal of the moral exemption, claiming these exemptions are too broad.
“We view your recommendations in the letter as an authoritarian effort to further restrict the religious freedom of organized religious entities and individuals,” said the letter signed by Archbishop Leonard Blair of Hartford, Bishop Frank Caggiano of Bridgeport, Bishop Michael Cote of Norwich, Bishop Paul Chomnycky, Eparch of the Stamford Eparchy of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, and Auxiliary Bishop Juan Betancourt.
The Bishops also take issue with an argument offered by the Attorney General Tong and his colleagues, who argue that the ban is needed to provide contraceptive services because “unintended pregnancies are associated with low birthweight and preterm births, and those children are more likely to fare worse in school achievement and have less success when they enter the labor market.”
“Such eroded moral reasoning on the part of government to reduce the value of children to their likelihood of educational and economic success perfectly exemplifies why religious and moral exemptions to government mandates must remain in effect,” the bishops wrote.
The letter was signed on April 3 by Tong and his fellow colleagues and addressed to Secretary of Labor Julie Su, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, and Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra.
In their letter, these Attorneys General support “rescinding the moral exemption as promulgated by the 2018 Rules, [and] recommend narrowing the religious exemptions.”
The bishops argued that the issue is not based in any data or widespread hardship saying, “Who in Connecticut is clamoring for the removal of these exemptions? You offer no quantifiable data regarding the number of Connecticut women who took part in employer plans with religious or moral exemptions and were eventually unable to access contraception on their own accord.”
The bishops’ full letter is available below:
Letter to AG Tong re Religious Exemption