Author Archives: CesarColmenero

Trump Wants to Let Your Boss Take Away Your Birth Control

Mother Jones

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN” “http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd”>

The Trump administration is considering a broad exemption to Obamacare’s mandate on contraceptive coverage, according to a leaked draft of the proposed rule published by Vox on Wednesday.

Since 2011, the Obamacare provision has required that most employers provide insurance that covers birth control, without any cost to the patient. The rule has been the target of a number of lawsuits by religious employers who felt that the requirement violated their religious beliefs. Showing sensitivity to such concerns, in 2014 the Supreme Court ruled in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby that some religious employers could opt out of the coverage. But the court required them to file paperwork indicating their objection, in turn triggering separate contraceptive coverage for employees provided directly by the insurance company. That ruling, though, didn’t settle the issue for religious groups. In a follow-up 2016 Supreme Court case, Zubik v. Burwell, a number of religious organizations said that even this accommodation required them to violate their beliefs, as the paperwork made them complicit in providing birth control coverage. The Supreme Court sent the case down to the lower courts, where it has still not been resolved.

Now, the Trump administration seems ready to extend the birth control exemption beyond just religious employers. According to the leaked draft, dated May 23, the new rule would allow virtually any organization to opt out of the mandate if they feel contraception coverage violates “their religious beliefs and moral convictions.”

“This rule would mean women across the country could be denied insurance coverage for birth control on a whim from their employer or university,” said Dana Singiser, vice president for public policy and government relations of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, in a statement. “It would expand the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby ruling to allow any employer—including huge, publicly traded companies—to deny birth control coverage to their employees. Think about it: Under this rule, bosses will be able to impose their personal beliefs on their female employees’ private medical decisions.”

What’s more, this draft doesn’t require employers opting out of the mandate to notify the government they are doing so; they’re only required to notify employees of a change in their insurance plans. Insurance companies could also themselves refuse to cover contraception if it violates their religious or moral beliefs.

This appears to provide an even broader exemption than what team Trump has previously signaled it would enact. Throughout the campaign, Trump assured religious leaders their organizations would not have to comply with the contraception mandate: “I will make absolutely certain religious orders like the Little Sisters of the Poor are not bullied by the federal government because of their religious beliefs,” he wrote in a letter to Catholic leaders last year, referring to the order of nuns that were party to the Zubik Supreme Court case. And on May 4, Trump, flanked by the Little Sisters of the Poor, signed an executive order about religious liberty, which encourages several agencies to address religious employers’ objections to Obamacare’s preventive care requirements, including contraception.

It is unclear what changes may have been made to this draft since May 23, but what is clear is that the rule is in an advanced stage of the process; the Office of Management and Budget announced that it is currently reviewing it, the penultimate step before the rule is enacted via posting in the Federal Register.

You can read the full draft, obtained by Vox, below:

DV.load(“https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3761813-Preventive-Services-Final-Rule.js”,
width: 630,
height: 450,
sidebar: false,
text: false,
container: “#DV-viewer-3761813-Preventive-Services-Final-Rule”
);

Preventive Services Final Rule (PDF)

Preventive Services Final Rule (Text)

Original link: 

Trump Wants to Let Your Boss Take Away Your Birth Control

Posted in FF, G & F, GE, LG, ONA, Radius, Ultima, Uncategorized, Venta | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Trump Wants to Let Your Boss Take Away Your Birth Control

EPA’s McCarthy slams the agency’s anti-science critics

EPA’s McCarthy slams the agency’s anti-science critics

Albert H. Teich

EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy has some sharp words for those who criticize the agency’s use of science in drawing up regulations, most notably fossil fuel companies and climate deniers in Congress.

“With science as our North Star, EPA has steered America away from health risks and toward healthier communities and a higher overall quality of life,” McCarthy said during the annual meeting of the National Academy of Sciences in Washington on Monday. “That’s why it’s worrisome that our science seems to be under constant assault by a small — but vocal — group of critics.”

Here were McCarthy’s really choice comments, as reported by Greenwire:

“I bet when those same critics get sick, they run to doctors and hospitals that rely on science from — guess who — Harvard University and the American Cancer Society. I bet they check air quality forecasts from EPA and the National Weather Service to see if the air is healthy enough for their asthmatic child to play outside that day. I bet they buy dishwashers with Energy Star labels, and take FDA-approved medicine, and eat USDA-approved meats.”

We would also add that the ultimate fossil-fuel defender, Dick Cheney, wouldn’t stand a snowflake’s chance in climate-changed hell of being alive today if it weren’t for the wonders of modern science.


Source
McCarthy slams critics’ ‘dangerous game’ of trying to discredit agency science, Greenwire

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

Find this article interesting? Donate now to support our work.Read more: Climate & Energy

,

Politics

Source article: 

EPA’s McCarthy slams the agency’s anti-science critics

Posted in ALPHA, Anchor, FF, GE, LG, ONA, organic, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on EPA’s McCarthy slams the agency’s anti-science critics

Why It Makes Sense to Kill Baby Giraffes (Sorry, Internet)

Mother Jones

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN” “http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd”>

A second Danish zoo has announced that it might kill a male giraffe. The news comes just days after the internet exploded with outrage when Marius the 18-month old giraffe was dispatched with a bolt gun and dissected in front of an audience that included children, before being fed to the lions at the Copenhagen Zoo. In a dark twist, the next potential euthanasia candidate, at the Jyllands Park zoo, is also named Marius.

The media circus began with protestors outside the Copenhagen Zoo on Sunday and a petition signed by 27,000 people to rehouse Marius in one of several zoos that had already indicated that their doors were open.

Then came the death threats to Bengt Holst, the zoo’s director of research and conservation. And the emotional opinion pieces.

As this debate rages, it’s crucial to remember that Marius was not just an exotic attraction: he was part of a larger conservation program that breeds animals with the specific goal of maintaining the diversity of each species’ gene pool.

Continue Reading »

Visit site: 

Why It Makes Sense to Kill Baby Giraffes (Sorry, Internet)

Posted in alo, Anchor, ATTRA, Citizen, FF, GE, Hagen, LAI, LG, ONA, PUR, Radius, Uncategorized, Venta | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Why It Makes Sense to Kill Baby Giraffes (Sorry, Internet)