Despite efforts by some religious organizations to be exempt from its provisions, the Obama Administration announced Friday that employers must offer health benefits that provide coverage for contraceptive services without charging a co-pay, co-insurance or a deductible.
In issuing the final rule, however, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said that it would grant non-profit religious organizations an extra year – until Oct. 1, 2013 – to comply with the new law. All other employers must have insurance plans that include these services by Oct. 1 this year.
"This decision was made after very careful consideration, including the important concerns some have raised about religious liberty," said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, in statement announcing the final rule. "I believe this proposal strikes the appropriate balance between respecting religious freedom and increasing access to important preventive services."
The rule still exempts churches and other employers whose main purpose is the practice of religion and whose employees are of the same faith. But religious leaders have argued that this definition, which was modeled on similar provisions made in 28 states that also require coverage of contraceptive services, is too narrow.
Not included in the current exemption are religious universities, hospitals and other non-profit organization with religious roots.
"Never before has the federal government forced individuals and organizations to go out into the marketplace and buy a product that violates their conscience. This shouldn't happen in a land where free exercise of religion ranks first in the Bill of Rights," said Cardinal-designate Timothy Nolan of New York and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Supporters of the law note that contraceptive use among women knows few bounds in this country even among Catholics. A report published in April by New York-based sexual and reproductive health rights research and education organization the Guttmacher Institute found that among sexually active Catholic women, 98 percent have used contraceptives, despite the church's ban on their use.
"In real-life America, contraceptive use and strong religious beliefs are highly compatible," said Rachel K. Jones, the report's lead author, in a press release detailing the results of the study.
Women's and reproductive rights groups hailed the decision by the Administration as a victory for women's health.
"This means that after years of trying to get birth control covered to the same extent that health plans cover Viagra, our country will finally have nearly universal coverage of contraception," blogged Jessica Arons, Director of the Women's Health and Rights Program at American Progress.
"An expanded religious exemption would have created an unreasonably large loophole that would have kept these benefits beyond the reach of millions of women," Arons continued. "This decision honors the conscience of these women over that of the institutions that employ them and ensures that cost will no longer be a barrier to accessing basic and essential preventive health services."