Reader says Obamacare must be defeated; direct violation of religious freedom
Ruth Wochnick, St Joseph
Obamacare MUST be defeated. It’s a direct violation of our religious freedom.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued a mandate under the Affordable Care Act (also known as “Obamacare”) that requires all employer health plans to provide free contraceptives, sterilizations and abortion-inducing drugs, regardless of any moral or religious objections.
The ministries of institutions like Catholic schools, hospitals and charities — educating the young, caring for the sick, feeding the hungry — are not considered sufficiently religious to qualify for the Mandate’s narrow “religious exemption.”
Not only will such institutions be forced to provide services that directly contradict the teachings of their faith, but — more alarmingly — the federal government is claiming the right to decide for religious institutions what constitutes their ministry.
More importantly, as described above, the American ideal of religious liberty is at stake. This isn’t really about contraception — it’s about the First Amendment.
Reader lauds editorial on Affordable Care Act; says it’s about time
William L. Cofell, St. Joseph
Thank you for the editorial in the Friday, July 26 issue of the St. Joseph Newsleader. The medical care act is critical in providing care to all on a somewhat equal basis. It seems to me it affords an excellent way of avoiding problems that impact the lives of too many people. It brings between 40-50 million people some protection against serious illness. It’s about time that provision for illness, serious or not, be part of a rational and national system. You did a fine job expressing a view regarding this issue.