Taking (Conscience) Rights Seriously
Prompted by the Catholic opposition to the Department of Health and Human Services’ contraception mandate, Melissa Moschella writes in Public Discourse about “why, as a pluralistic liberal democracy, we should indeed bend over backwards to craft our laws so that individuals will never be unnecessarily coerced into violating their consciences.” She states that “conscience rights” should only be violated in cases of a “truly compelling state interest—as it would be, for example, if a religion required its members to engage in human sacrifice.” According to Moschella, the HHS mandate doesn’t adequately protect Catholic’s “conscience rights.”