Bishops: Conscience clause necessary

The bishops of New York State, including Bishop Howard J. Hubbard of the Albany Diocese, have called on the State Legislature to include a conscience clause in proposed legislation on contraceptive health insurance.

This week, the State Assembly passed a bill mandating that employers provide insurance coverage for contraception. Unlike its companion bill passed by the State Senate, the Assembly bill does not contain a clause protecting freedom of conscience for religious organizations.

In a joint statement issued Jan. 29, the bishops called for "the preservation of religious conscience protection in any legislation mandating health insurance coverage for contraception or morally objectionable infertility procedures."

The statement was issued through the New York State Catholic Conference, which speaks for the bishops in matters of public policy.

Last week, the Conference's executive director, John Kerry, said that "legislators who reject conscience protection support using the coercive powers of government to force the Church to violate its teachings."

He said that "even New Yorkers who disagree with the Church's position on these issues can appreciate the dangerous precedent that would be set by such a blatant governmental intrusion into the practice of religious faith. The free exercise of religion is one of this country's most hallowed principles and is guaranteed by the First Amendment."

Twenty-three bishops signed the joint statement, which noted that "our nation was founded upon the principle that those choosing to live by religious faith do so free from the unwarranted intrusion of government. We can think of no governmental action at this time so unwarranted or intrusive as the requirement that religiously affiliated employers or insurers pay for or provide coverage for procedures which violate the tenets of their religious faith."

The bishops urged legislators "to reject the arguments of those who would discriminate against faith and religious practice in our culture, and to hold firm to those principles upon which this nation was founded."