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The Biden-Harris administration has proposed a new Federal Rule that would mandate insurance coverage of over-the-counter contraceptives and thus trample on the religious freedom rights and medical ethics of those who object to being forced to subsidize contraception. It is truly incredible that a US president who identifies as a Catholic would do this to his fellow Catholics who hold fast to Church teaching that goes back to the apostolic age condemning contraceptive practices. In fact, the White House press office issued a fact sheet with this header. “Biden-Harris Administration Announces Proposal for Most Significant Expansion of Contraception Coverage Under the Affordable Care Act in More Than a Decade.” The Obama Contraceptive Mandate is still in force with modifications; this expands it even more. The fact sheet points out that the new measure would force insurance companies to provide over-the-counter contraceptives free of charge for the first time as well as expanding required coverage to every FDA-approved contraceptive drug or drug-led combination product without cost sharing.

The ethics of this are simply abysmal. What is the “good” that this Federal Rule is supposedly promoting? They claim contraception is an “essential component of reproductive health care.” In other words, if persons are denied contraception, and if it is not provided to them free of charge, their human rights have been violated. The enormity of this position when stated so baldly is remarkable. How can there be a right to an endless supply of drugs and devices that render a person temporarily sterile?

The entire purpose of contraception is to make a normally healthy fertile person, usually a woman, infertile despite engaging in conjugal acts. The purpose of health care is to heal and prevent disease and dysfunction of our bodies. Deliberately causing infertility is to seek an unhealthy state. It is to technologically frustrate and prevent a normal and good thing, the conception of children. This is a clear case of using scientific knowledge to manipulate the natural order to engage in sex without the “risk” of procreation. Medical science is perverted when used in this manipulative way.

The Catholic Church has always taught contraception is gravely evil. Separating the unitive and the procreative meanings of the conjugal act is corrosive to the relationship of the husband and wife and to their closeness with God. If there are well-founded reasons to postpone the possibility of pregnancy, then moral means exist to do so. Fertility Awareness Based Methods (FABMs), sometimes called Natural Family Planning (NFP), can be very effective without the immorality and negative health side effects of many contraceptive methods.

It is extremely sad that the clarity with which liberals once saw that it is wrong to coerce people to violate their consciences and deeply held religious beliefs has largely been lost. There was bipartisan consensus on legislation affirming conscience protections in the past. Today, it is mainly conservatives who still fight for the basic human right not to be persecuted for conscientious beliefs. Liberals once embraced moral relativism, which affirms that there is no one objective truth and therefore contradictory viewpoints can be somehow compatible. Liberals are now convinced that they have the only true viewpoint, a similar position to Catholics and other traditional believers, but they lack something very important, the truth.  Catholics also believe they possess the truth, but they are taught to be charitable towards unbelievers and to dialogue with and exercise tolerance towards those with whom we have sincerely held disagreements.

The Church has proven in every age since the Apostles that the followers of Christ will accept martyrdom rather than deny their Faith and contradict their beliefs. It is through this loving refusal to bow before unjust laws or political commands that believers have given an exceptionally powerful witness to the truth. In fact, the word martyr is derived from the Greek word for witness. One has to be hard-hearted indeed to treat as criminals good people who simply demand not to be forced to do something they find morally repugnant.

The Biden-Harris administration is willing to go to absurd lengths to facilitate contraception. I had to read the next sentence of their statement twice as it made no sense to me. Besides making contraception free in most health insurance plans, they said it is important “to help ensure that women with Medicare coverage have access to more covered types of contraception without unnecessary barriers.”  I broke out in laughter. Medicare is the government health insurance designed for those 65 years and older. My first thought was that the federal officials who came up with this should be forced to retake basic human biology if they are so concerned that women in their sixties and older desperately need access to contraception. Apparently, there is a small percentage of Medicare recipients who are not senior citizens, and this administration wants to leave no stone unturned in their crusade for contraceptive access.

The main point remains. We are not dealing with reasonable, tolerant people. They are ideologically charged and determined to force their distorted vision of the world on American society.

Joseph Meaney received his PhD in bioethics from the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Rome. His doctoral program was founded by the late Elio Cardinal Sgreccia and linked to the medical school and Gemelli teaching hospital. His dissertation topic was Conscience and Health Care: A Bioethical Analysis. Dr. Meaney earned his master’s in Latin American studies, focusing on health care in Guatemala, from the University of Texas at Austin. He graduated from the University of Dallas with a BA in history and a concentration in international studies. The Benedict XVI Catholic University in Trujillo, Peru, awarded Dr. Meaney an honorary visiting professorship. The University of Dallas bestowed on him an honorary doctorate in Humane Letters in 2022.