Where the CT Delegation Stands on HHS Ruling Against Catholic Church

If anyone can find Jim Himes' opinion on the policy that will force Catholic run hospitals and charitable organizations to offer services that violate the Church's teaching, please let us know.

In late January, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), as part of the Affordable Care Act, also known as ObamaCare, ruled employers must offer contraceptive services to their employees as part of their health care plans. The Catholic Church objected, stating it was against Church doctrine for Church-run organizations like hospitals and charities, to offer contraceptive services to employees. The White House offered a compromise on February 10th, that is best summarized by Greg Mankiw, "Semantics at the Highest Level."

Where does the Connecticut Congressional delegation stand?
CT-1 John Larson applauds the compromise, but was silent on the initial ruling.
CT-2 Joe Courtney also applauds the new ruling, but was also silent on the initial ruling.
CT-3 Rosa De Lauro "will work to ensure that this policy is implemented in a fair and equal way that does not compromise women’s access to preventive health services regardless of their employer," and was also in favor of the initial ruling.

CT-4 Jim Himes is silent on the issue. However, Mr. Himes was kind enough to let us know he dove into Long Island Sound with the Mayor of Bridgeport.

CT-5 Christopher Murphy was also silent on the issue.

Senator Joe Lieberman was against the ruling, see his February 8th twitter "Government should not compel religious organization’s to provide services contrary to their beliefs," and he "applauds compromise offer, will review the details on implementation."

Senator Richard Blumenthal came out in favor of the compromise but was silent on the initial ruling.


John Cochrane has the most insightful, non-sectarian view on this issue, "The Real Trouble with the Birth Control Mandate," which is why HHS should mandate insurance plan cover a specific service, like birth control?

Unfortunately the debate is framed as one over religious freedom. The real debate, as Cochrane points out, is the freedom of all of us to organize our lives as we see fit.