A new measure is part of public health reform promoted by the government of President Barack Obama led an angry protest of the Catholic bishops in the United States claimed that violates the principles of that church.
Federal law requires all employers, including institutions under management of religious organizations to provide health coverage that includes the free distribution of contraceptives.
While the Catholic hierarchy flatly rejects the measure, many Catholic women in the U.S. practice modern methods of birth control and a recent survey shows that a slim majority in the Catholic community supports this law.
Others, on the other hand, claim that this is a blatant affront to the Constitution which guarantees freedom of worship and that could cost Obama in his reelection campaign.
An adviser to the president is out to show signs of a concession, saying the government is willing to work with Catholic institutions to implement the regulations without compromising the teachings of the church.
Catholic Bishops
The Catholic bishops ordered the reading of a complaint against the law during mass.
The law, known as the Affordable Care Act (Act of affordable health care) requires health insurance plans for employees include preventive services at no additional cost. These include family planning and distribution of contraceptives like condoms and pills.
The rule exempts places of worship but not to its affiliated organizations, universities, hospitals and charitable organizations, administered by the Catholic Church.
According to the Catholic Health Association (CHA, for its acronym in English), Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sibelius, was based on narrow criteria to define who would be exempted.
President and CEO of the CHA, Carol Keehan, who advocated the reform of the health of Obama, said in a statement his disappointment and he branded the rules of a "challenge for many groups." Said they would be working directly with the Conference of Catholic Bishops United States and other related agencies to resolve the issue.
"There is a need for an effective national conversation about the appropriate protection of conscience in our pluralistic country that has always respected the role of religions".
The bishops did not wait and sent letters to different parishes, criticizing the measure of Barack Obama to be read during the Mass to the parishioners.
Jon O’Brien, president of Catholics for Choice , an organization that disagrees with the opinions of the Vatican in terms of sexuality, marriage and motherhood, told Multiple News News that the bishops were assembling a scandal preaching a majority to accept the use of contraceptives.
"We know that in America 98% of sexually active Catholic women have used a modern contraceptive during their lives," he said.
O’Brien accused the bishops of wanting the best of both worlds: "They want to manage their institutions and receive taxpayer money while discriminating against employees by denying them their own methods of birth control."
First Amendment
But some feel that requiring employers of religious organizations distribute contraceptives is a matter of legal size that violates both the moral teachings of the church and religious freedom of those who are covered under your health insurance.
"Abuse is a terrible abuse of the First Amendment of our constitution," said Kristine Kalanges, professor of Justice, Law and Society at American University in Washington, specializing in conflict of laws, religion and politics.
That first amendment guarantees freedom of worship for all citizens and considers Dr. Kalanges exemption from the law extend to the institutions affiliated to the Catholic Church would protect that right while women would not limit access to contraceptives by other means.
"If Catholics want to use contraception, as we know they do, it is a matter of your own consciousness and can pay for these without forcing institutions to cover it," he said.
"The issue is not what Catholics believe, but what is constitutionally permissible and if it is good policy to force a religious institution to do something they morally oppose."
The academic said that the law had a tremendous conflict for the Catholic Church.
Opinion Divided
All employers, except for places of worship are required to distribute free contraceptives.
A recent survey conducted by Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI, for its acronym in English), an independent organization in Washington that studies the relationship of religion, values and politics, shows that a slight majority of Catholics in the United . States. Supporters of the bill the government.
"There is a divide between what you think of the church hierarchy and the faithful rank and file," said Robert Jones, executive director of PRRI, but notes that this difference is not unusual in Catholic circles.
"There are a variety of issues like gay marriage that are rejected by the bishops and most Catholics support," he told the Multiple News.
Dr. Jones acknowledges that the Catholic bishops consider the law as a serious problem, but it remains to be seen if the situation remains confined to a clash between the Conference of Bishops and the government or if it spreads.
Some politicians are already taking advantage of the conflict. In a statement on social networks, the prospective Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney accused President Obama of wanting "to impose a secular Americans."
Kristine Kalanges American University agrees that the government "has not been the most friendly in terms of religious freedom."
"The real shock is taken Catholics who voted for him in 2008 and supported him for his social justice issues and his promise not to force them to go against their principles, "he argued.
Grant
Idica Kalanges the president has granted an extension of one year to religious organizations to find ways to include the distribution of contraceptives within the coverage of their policyholders in order to prolong the debate until after the general elections and for the issue does not harm their reelection plans.
But the government is already taking steps to calm things down. The principal adviser to the Obama campaign, David Axelrod, told a U.S. television network that had room for compromise.
"We want to ensure basic preventive care for women and while respecting the prerogatives of religious institutions," he told Multiple News.
Kalanges Kristine explains that there is already a model successfully implemented statewide for similar programs with a broader approach that would exempt religious institutions to provide contraceptive plan.
But Jon O’Brien of Catholics for Choice believes that this concession would be a grave mistake and would be the tip of the iceberg in a long line concessions.
"Under the pretext of freedom of worship want the right to discriminate against women, against gay employees against those affected with HIV and not adhering to the same rules as others," he said.
The law takes effect in August 2012 for most employers, but religious institutions may request an extension of one year.