Wester v. Dowd

Wester v. Dowd by MSW.  MGB: That civil law can require religious employers to behave as any other employers is already settled law, as is the requirement that preventative care include contraception.  What the Church seems to be fighting is the manner in which the government is outlining how it can be exempted from policies which, without accommodation, it would have to follow - even at the parish level.  Regardless of the usual tone of Ms. Dowd, it is remarkably graceless of the bishops to not acknowledge the fact that Obama and Sebelius are essentially doing them a favor by carving out an exemption at all (which is why threats that somehow the Church would have stoped providing services without accommodation on their own terms ring particularly hollow).  For those bishops who really want to use this issue for political advantage, their best strategy is to declare victory and shut up - since they will be met with a war on women meme that helps Obama among even Catholic women more than their objections hurt him.