A Partial Reprieve of the HHS Mandate

It appears that part of the infamous HHS mandate (which I wrote about back in July) is being rolled back by the Obama administration - or, more accurately, there is a proposal in the works to slightly relax the rule. Many non-profit organizations will be exempted from being forced to provide birth control for their employees, according to a proposed revision of the mandate.

I, for one, am shocked that the Obama administration would grant even a partial reprieve on the matter of contraception. I thought that his administration would push the HHS mandate through without regard for the consequences. Considering Obama’s fervent embrace of the Culture of Death, his administration’s decision is nothing short of miraculous.

It is likely Obama, a skilled politician, saw the blitzkrieg of lawsuits being launched against the mandate, and chose to cut his losses and retain what elements of the mandate he could. This recent decision is a partial reprieve at best, and not a permanent victory. For-profit organizations such as Hobby Lobby and non-profit organizations without a religious affiliation (such as the Susan B. Anthony List) are still not exempted from the mandate.

While the defenders of religious liberty may have won a partial victory in this first battle, there is more and worse to come. Those who seek the elimination of religious liberty are growing bolder in a secularizing world, and will have to contend with new threats to freedom (such as forced Church approval of same-sex marriage) in a world which values “old” rights such as religious liberty less and less.

Let us give thanks to God for this partial victory, but be ever more vigilant, and fight ever harder for a full repeal to this unjust mandate. Wars are not won in one battle; the fight for religious freedom has barely begun.