Washington D.C., Aug 8, 2011 / 18:00 pm
U.S. bishops' spokesperson Sr. Mary Ann Walsh blasted the Department of Health and Human Services for interfering in the work of religious hospitals that want to opt out of providing free contraceptives.
Government “must not stick its proverbial camel's nose under the church tent,” Sr. Walsh said in an Aug. 8 Huffington Post editorial. “Now, however, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has gone beyond nuzzling its nose where it does not belong.”
“It has plunked itself right in the middle of the sanctuary. It is trying to define what a religion does and does not do.”
Walsh's remarks come in the wake of the department's Aug. 1 announcement that new health care plans must cover contraceptives and sterilizations under regulations for preventive care created in response to the 2010 health care legislation.