The vice-presidential debate last week was historic as it was the first time in American history that the two candidates who met to discuss a broad range of issues were Catholic. Even the moderator made mention of the historic nature of the event.
During the debate, Vice-President Biden stated as “fact” that the Obama Administration’s Health and Human Services mandate on contraception did not force Catholic institutions to pay for immoral medical services. In fact, he rather boldly stated that “No religious institution, Catholic or otherwise, including Catholic social services, Georgetown Hospital, Mercy Hospital, any hospital, none has to either refer contraception, none has to pay for contraception, none has to be a vehicle to get contraception in any insurance policy they provide. This is a fact. That is a fact.”
However, it is not a fact nor even close to being a fact. The fact is that the HHS mandate contains a very slight exemption for only certain “religious employers.” And in fact this exemption does not include “Catholic social services, Georgetown Hospital, Mercy Hospital, any hospital” or any religious group that ministers and provides services to anyone regardless of their faith tradition. Also, numerous Catholic social service agencies, dioceses and universities have filed lawsuits against the Obama Administration’s blatant attack on religious liberty.
Vice-President Biden’s confusion during the debate about the clear facts surrounding the HHS mandate was really a deliberate display of political spin. The attack on the religious freedom of Catholic institutions is not only a very real fact, but it is also shamefully wrong. Catholics and all Americans deserve better from the sitting Vice-President than such a shameful display of obvious “malarkey.”
