Affordable care and freedom of conscience

The Obama Administration made a major miscalculation in mandating that faith-based institutions provide employees with health care plans that cover contraceptives. Their walk back yesterday is only half-hearted, for the insurance companies that offer coverage to their employees still need to offer contraceptives "free of charge." The reality, of course, is there is no such thing as a free lunch, and these costs will be absorbed via premiums paid by the same faith-based institutions and the rest of employers and individuals who rely upon these companies for health insurance.

It should come as no surprise that the Orwellian Affordable Care Act infringes on freedom of conscience. At it's very core, it represents a government takeover of the remaining free market elements of our nation's health care industry. The scary thing is, we haven't seen anything yet, because while the taxes that finance this beast have already taken effect, it is a ponzi scheme that formally becomes law in 2014, when President Obama will presumably be mid-way through his second term and quacking like a lame duck (or back here in Chicago if Mitt Romney can get his act together).

Now, I am admittedly a cafeteria Catholic. I attend mass only sporadically, and while I practice much of the church's teachings, I happen to disagree with its opposition to gay marriage, its unwillingness to make exceptions on abortion for rape, incest, and the life of the mother, and yes, even on contraception.

I am, however, a constitutional scholar, and freedom of conscience is firmly embedded in the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment ("Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or the free exercise thereof..."). The Supreme Court has allowed infringement on the free exercise of religion when the government has a compelling interest. It has forbidden trespassing on religious beliefs.

The question here is whether the Obama Administration has a compelling interest in mandating that faith-based institutions violate their core convictions to offer birth control to employees. Given that birth control is widely available for free at government-supported organizations like Planned Parenthood, and also accessible by prescription over the counter for a fee, this does not constitute a compelling interest in my mind.

Instead, it represents liberal dogma, and is emblematic of an insular administration staffed by secular progressives that thinks it knows better than the God-fearing people who cling to guns and religion. Obamacare must be repealed and replaced, and the administration that created this monstrosity must be limited to a single term.