This First Amendment Defense Fails
The religious and conservatives among us might not want to hear this, but I think it’s important to point out. Our Constitutional scholar Rob Natelson just wrote on the contraceptives and Catholic Church controversy. Many are making a First Amendment case against the Obamacare mandate forcing the church to provide products and services they find immoral. After all, the First Amendment protects religious freedom. However, Rob disagrees with this particular defense. He writes,
Does the mandate forcing Catholic hospitals to offer abortifacients and contraception violate the First Amendment? The surprising answer is: Probably not.
Read Rob’s constitutional arguments on his blog. You might be surprised to see that not all religious refuge can be taken in the First Amendment. A big thanks goes out to Rob for being true to objective constitutional scholarship – even if it means not giving an answer people want to hear.
I thought part of the problem was that the government wanted the churches to make sure they were provided free. I know there’s probably more than that, but by providing them free to employees, someone has to pay for them. It’s either the churches or the taxpayer. As far as I’m concerned, people can buy their own contraception, et al. I certainly wouldn’t make my church pay for it or my neighbors (tax payers) either.
14 Feb 2012 at 8:21 pm