Ogdensburg bishop urges opposition to birth control coverage rule

OGDENSBURG - Bishop Terry R. LaValley is urging Catholics throughout the Diocese of Ogdensburg to voice opposition to a federal law requiring employers to provide employees health insurance coverage for birth control, sterilization procedures and abortion-causing drugs.

Religious institutions that primarily employ people of their own faith are exempt from the rule. But because Catholic-run institutions like nursing homes and Catholic Charities employ people of all creeds, Bishop LaValley said in his letter, they are subject to the law. He urged Catholics to contact federal representatives and call for legislation reversing the rule, calling it “an unprecedented assault on religious liberty.”

“Almost all health insurers will be forced to include those ‘services’ in the health policies they write. Almost all individuals will be forced to buy that coverage as a part of their policies,” Bishop LaValley said in his letter. “We cannot — we will not — comply with this unjust law. This will have dire consequences for the Catholic schools, Catholic nursing home, and Catholic Charities throughout the Diocese of Ogdensburg (all of northern New York State).”