Note: please note that this issue overview should (a) contain links to additional information on this topic that is focused either the local, state, national, or global level, and (b) be neutrally presented, based on facts, and include footnotes for each of the items.  See the Research Guide and Information Sources to assist you. 

Goal Statement   one sentence that further defines the topic 

• To offer possible alternatives to the Department of Health and Human Services Contraception Mandate.   

Policy Options / Model Programs   specific policies or program models, grouped by type, that are profiled 

Four different alternatives to the present mandate that would be more viable and palatable to those opposed to the present policy. 

• Option 1:  Complete repeal of the contraception mandate on the grounds that this policy and its discriminatory enforcement violate the First Amendment right to Freedom of Religion.  Ronald Reagan once said, “The First Amendment was not written to protect people and their laws from religious values, it was written to protect those values from government tyranny”^[1].  Religious freedom was recently upheld in the court case Hosanna Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School vs. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (E.E.O.C.).  In a unanimous 9-0 vote, the Supreme Court upheld Hosanna Tabor’s right to freely exercise their religious freedom, including the internal operations and the hiring and firing of its ministers, free from government intervention^[2].  It is clear that if the HHS continues with the contraception mandate, the answer will come from the Supreme Court. 

• Option 2:  Expand the current definition of religious exemptions to include all institutions, corporations, and individuals who are opposed to having health insurance policies that provide funding for contraception, abortifacients, and abortions due to religious convictions and moral objections.  The Roman Catholic Church and other religious institutions claim that contraception and abortion are contrary their religious teachings and collective conscience.  James Madison once described conscience as, “The most sacred of all property”^[3].  Since the days of the American Revolution, individuals have been allowed and even encouraged to abstain from activities which were contrary to their religious convictions.  Even today these people are called conscientious objectors.  They have always been given protection under the law.

• Option 3: Do away with the contraception mandate in favor of increased funding for Title X.  The whole point to the HHS contraception mandate is to provide contraceptive access to all persons regardless of income.  Title X already has the infrastructure and policy in place to provide contraception, abortifacients, and other “preventative services” to low-income, at-risk people.  Those people who can afford contraception should pay for them.  Those people who cannot afford contraception are already covered under Title X.  Since there is already a program in place to combat the “contraception crisis” why would the HHS need another bureaucratic program?

• Option 4: Give the consumer the option to purchase health insurance policies that either fund or do not fund contraception and other preventative reproductive services.  If there are insurance policies on the market that fund abortions, contraception, and other abortifacients, wouldn’t it make sense to offer policies that do not offer coverage for these things as well?  The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PAACA) mandates that every American (Muslims and Quakers excluded) purchase a health insurance policy.  The HHS is dictating what kind of coverage must be offered by private businesses.  State coercion or state control of business is a hallmark of communism.  We live in a representative democracy that thrives on free-market capitalism.  I propose to let the market decide what kind of coverage to offer.  It should be up to the individual consumer what type of coverage he/she will buy.    We should have the freedom to choose. 

Local/State/National Information    additional information on this topic at the local, state, national, global level

• Religious Exemption from Preventative Contraception Mandate - USA

Glossary of Terms   key words or phrases that the layperson needs to know to understand this issue 

• Preventative Medicine: a branch of medical science dealing with methods (as vaccination) of preventing the occurrence of disease^[4].  Medical Procedures included in the present definition of preventative medicine would include vaccinations, colonoscopy, mammogram, blood work, and yearly physical exams.  The Department of Health and Human Services is attempting to redefine preventative medicine to include contraception, abortifacients, and abortion.  The purpose of preventative medicine is to protect against disease.  The HHS definition would call pregnancy (unwanted or unplanned) a disease.
• Contraception: deliberate prevention of conception or impregnation^[5].  Contraception includes the use of condoms (both male and female), birth control pills, and sterilization.
• Abortifacient: an agent (as a drug) that induces abortion^[6].  Abortifacients include emergency contraception (Morning After Pill), ellaOne, the abortion pill RU 486, and other pills and chemicals which prevent egg from implanting to the Uterine Wall.  
• Abortion: the termination of a pregnancy after, accompanied by, resulting in, or closely followed by the death of the embryo or fetus: a : spontaneous expulsion of a human fetus during the first 12 weeks of gestation—compare miscarriage b : induced expulsion of a human fetus^[7]. 

Bibliography    

• Madison, J. (1792, March 29). Madison on Property. Retrieved from The Heritage Foundation: http://www.heritage.org/initiatives/first-principles/primary-sources/madison-on-property 
• Reagan, R. (1983, January 31). Remarks at the Annual Convention of the National Religious Broadcasters. Retrieved from Ronald Reagan Presidential Library at the University of Texas: http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1983/13183b.htm 
• Supreme Court of the United States of Amercia. (2012, January 11). Hosanna Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School vs. E.E.O.C. Retrieved from Supreme Court of the United States of Amercia: http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/11pdf/10-553.pdf 
• Guttmacher Institute. (2012, July). Contraceptive Use in the United States. Retrieved from Guttmacher Institute: http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/fb_contr_use.pdf 
• Department of Health and Human Services. (2012, January 20). A Statement by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. Retrieved February 05, 2013, from Department of Health and Human Services: http://www/hhs.gov/news/press/2012pres/01/20120120a.html 
• Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. (2013, February 01). The Contraception Mandate and Religious Liberty. Retrieved March 07, 2013, from Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life: http://www.pewforum.org/Government/The-Contraception-Mandate-and-Religious-Liberty.aspxhttp://www.pewforum.org/Government/The-Contraception-Mandate-and-Religious-Liberty.aspx
• Jones, R. K., Darroch, J. E., & Henshaw, S. K. (2002, November/December). Contraceptive Use Among U.S. Women Having Abortions 2000 - 2001. Retrieved from The Guttmacher Institute: http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/3429402.html
• Malcolm, J. G. (2012, June 15). Obama v. Religious Liberty: How Legal Challenges to the HHS Contraception Mandate Will Vindicate Every American's Right to Freedom of Religion. Retrieved from The Heritage Foundation: http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2012/06/obama-religious-liberty-and-the-legal-challenges-to-the-hhs-contraceptive-mandate
• Naumann, J. (2012, February 24). Coercing individuals to violate their consciences is un-American. Retrieved from The Leaven Online: http://www.theleaven.com/v33/archbishop_column4_27_12.html
• Naumann, J. (2012, February 17). Proposed 'accommodation' insults the intelligence of people of faith. Retrieved from The Leaven Online: http://www.theleaven.com/v33/archbishop_column2_17_12.html
• Merriam-Webster Dictionary . (2013). Preventative Medicine Definition. Retrieved from Merriam-Webster Dictionary : http://www.merriam-webster.com/medical/preventive+medicine?show=0&t=1367270168
• Merriam-Webster Dictionary. (2013). Contraception Definition. Retrieved from Merriam-Webster Dictionary: http://www.merriam-webster.com/medical/contraception3
• Merriam-Webster Dictionary. (2013). Abortifacient Definition . Retrieved from Merriam Webster Dictionary: http://www.merriam-webster.com/medical/abortifacient
• Merriam-Webster Dictionary. (2013). Abortion Definition. Retrieved from Merriam-Webster Dictionary: http://www.merriam-webster.com/medical/abortion
• Encyclopedia Britannica. (2013). Roe v. Wade (law case). Retrieved from Encyclopedia Britannica Academic Edition: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/506705/Roe-v-Wade
• Office of Population Affairs. (n.d.). Title X Family Planning . Retrieved from Office of Population Affairs: http://www.hhs.gov/opa/title-x-family-planning/
• United States Congress. (2012, January 04). § 300a–7. Sterilization or abortion. Retrieved from Legal Law Institute: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/pdf/uscode42/lii_usc_TI_42_CH_6A_SC_VIII_SE_300a-7.pdf
• United States Congress. (1988, March 22). 20 USC § 1688 - Neutrality with respect to abortion. Retrieved from Legal Law Institute: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/pdf/uscode20/lii_usc_TI_20_CH_38_SE_1688.pdf
•  Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities. (2010, June). CURRENT FEDERAL LAWS PROTECTING CONSCIENCE RIGHTS. Retrieved from United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB): http://old.usccb.org/prolife/issues/abortion/crmay08.pdf
• United States Congress. (1791, December 15). The United States Bill of Rights: First 10 Amendments to the Constitution. Retrieved from American Civil Liberties Union: http://www.aclu.org/united-states-bill-rights#1