MONTGOMERY, Alabama --- The Banking and Insurance Committee of the Alabama Senate today approved a bill that would provide that "religiously affiliated or motivated" employers could not be required to provide insurance coverage for contraception or for drugs and other methods to terminate pregnancies.
The bill, dubbed the Religious Liberty Act, comes in response to the federal Affordable Care Act’s requirement for employers to provide contraceptive coverage through their health insurance plans.
Today’s committee approval, which came on a unanimous voice vote, moves the bill into position for consideration by the Alabama Senate.
It has already passed the House of Representatives.
“If you respect business people in the state, this is a good way to go,” said the sponsor, Rep. Lynn Greer, R-Rogersville.
Before today’s vote, Jeremy Walker, an attorney for the Banking and Insurance Committee, gave a brief overview of lawsuits against the Affordable Care Act’s requirement on contraceptive coverage. The Affordable Care Act is often called Obamacare.
Walker said there are more than 50 cases pending nationally. He said a federal court in Missouri recently struck down a state law similar to Greer’s proposal.
Last month, U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Lovelace Blackburn dismissed the lawsuit of Irondale-based EWTN Global Catholic Network challenging the federal mandate.
Blackburn ruled that it was too soon for courts to rule on the mandate because the federal government has not finalized the rules to implement it.
Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange had sought to join EWTN as a plaintiff in that case, which was filed in February 2012.
“This is a long way of saying there are a great deal of questions out there,” Walker told the committee after his overview.
Greer’s bill says that a “religiously affiliated or motivated employer shall not be required to provide contraceptive or abortifacient drugs, devices, or methods to its employees directly, through any insurance policy, or in any other way.”
It defines a “religiously affiliated or motivated employer” as a “church, ministry, or other organization with religious tenets, objectives or motivations,” or as any “entity that has 10 or less shareholders, members, or partners who have religious beliefs which oppose contraceptive or abortifacient drugs, devices, or methods.”
The bill would provide that a “religiously affiliated or motivated employer” could require their insurance carrier to offer a plan for employees that excludes contraception coverage.
After today’s vote, Planned Parenthood Southeast issued a statement critical of Greer’s bill, calling it “an effort to side-step the Affordable Care Act by denying women insurance coverage for birth control.”
“This legislation will make it harder to access contraception, which would only increase the rate of unintended pregnancies,” Planned Parenthood Southeast Vice President of Public Policy Nikema Williams said in the statement. “Birth control is basic health care, and women should not be denied coverage. We urge the Senate to reject this bill.”