In a victory for religious liberty, the Supreme Court decided in a 7-2 majority decision that religious groups such as the case petitioners, the Little Sisters of the Poor, cannot be forced to provide cost-free contraception coverage under the Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate.
The decision won’t put an end to the legal woes of organizations such as the Little Sisters, but it still marks a crucial turning point in the war of Obamacare versus religious liberty and conscience.
Yet, with that crucial legal victory, pro-lifers ought to turn toward another effort that could abate our abortion rate by reducing the need for abortion: increase funding for Title X, which provides access to contraception.
The U.S. abortion rate has finally plummeted to levels comparable to those prior to the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. A major reason for this is that we have continued to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies. For one thing, this is because teenagers are having less sex. But as a matter of policy, the contraception mandate has probably been a significant factor in reducing unplanned pregnancies.
As I wrote back in February:
But as SCOTUS decided today, the administration can exempt religious objectors from financing or administratively enabling a practice antithetical to their beliefs. It’s not necessarily pro-life to refuse to fund the single most significant factor reducing our abortion rate, but it is the obvious right of employers to do so.
Where does that leave pro-life conservatives? Their most efficacious bet would be to continue focusing on siphoning Title X funding away from abortion providers such as Planned Parenthood, all the while amping up its funding overall. This is the fiscally conservative play, as Title X is believed to produce for taxpayers a $7 return on their investment for every dollar spent. And it’s clearly pro-life for the fact that no constitutional government policy is more effective in reducing the number of babies aborted per year than Title X.
Lawmakers should continue to deregulate contraception and regulate abortion access. But increasing Title X funding and ensuring it’s going toward legitimate health providers is a politically plausible and ethical starting point for their efforts.
