New Jersey Catholic Conference

211 North Warren Street · Trenton, New Jersey 08618-4894

(609) 599-2110 · Fax (609) 392-3094

E-mail: info@njcathconf.com

Web: www.njcathconf.com

William F. Bolan, Jr., J.D.

Executive Director

April 2, 2003

ACTION ALERT

RE: S185 (A1693 - Mandatory Prescription Drug Coverage for Contraceptives)

ISSUE: S185 (A1693), co-sponsored by Senators Diane Allen and Barbara Buono, mandates prescription drug coverage for contraceptives in group health insurance policies, but also contains a conscience clause which the New Jersey Catholic Conference supports. The clause provides that a religious employer (a church or any group or entity that is operated, supervised or controlled by or in connection with a church) shall be excluded from providing such coverage if it conflicts with the religious employer’s bona fide beliefs and practices, except that the exclusion is not allowed for prescription drugs that are prescribed for reasons other than contraceptive purposes or for prescription female contraceptives that are necessary to preserve the life or health of a covered woman.

There are indications that an amendment may be offered in committee to narrow the conscience clause by limiting the definition of religious employer to an entity which primarily employs and serves persons who share the same religious beliefs and practices. This limited definition would exclude Catholic hospitals, Catholic Charities and Catholic schools from the benefit of the conscience clause unless those entities employed primarily Catholic employees to serve primarily Catholic people in hospitals, charity agencies and schools. Is not such an amendment absurd? Who can imagine these three institutions, which have done so much good, limiting their service to the Catholic poor, Catholic sick and Catholic children? In this time of tight fiscal constraints, these institutions are more important than ever in serving all people, not just Catholics.

An attempt to narrow the conscience clause in A1693 (the Assembly counterpart) was defeated by every member of the Assembly Health and Human Services Committee on May 9, 2002 and on June 20,2002, A1693, containing the same conscience clause as S185, passed the Assembly with 72 votes in the affirmative. However, the Catholic Church has been made a continuing target of state contraceptive coverage mandates by a national Planned Parenthood priority.

OUR We oppose any limiting amendment because it would be an unprecedented

POSITION: assault upon the religious freedom rights of churches in general and the Catholic Church in particular. If this kind of amendment became law, it is difficult to imagine any restraint upon the state’s ability to require religious institutions to violate the principal tenets of their religious beliefs.

For a more detailed account of our position, please see a copy of a letter

which was sent to every member of the New Jersey Senate by the Catholic

Conference at www.njcathconf.com

ACTION: 1) Contact the sponsors, Senator Allen and Senator Buono (contact information below) and ask them to oppose any amendments to the conscience clause contained in their bill, S185 because of the potential application of these amendments to the Catholic schools, Catholic Charity agencies and Catholic hospitals.

The Hon Diane B. Allen The Hon. Barbara Buono

2313 Burlington-Mt. Holly Road` 100 Plainfield Ave., Suite 1

Burlington, NJ 08016 Edison, NJ 08817

(609) 239-23800 (732) 819-8141

FAX (609) 239-2673 FAX (732) 819-8204

SenAllen@njleg.org SenBuono@njleg.org

2) Contact your own state senator and make the same request. . If you do not know who your Senator is, call the Office of Legislative Services at 1-800-792-8630 or go to the Legislature’s webpage at: http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/members/legsearch.asp

View the Exemplar Letter HERE