Bishops say Biden made 'inaccurate' mandate statement

I was surprised at how swiftly the Bishops responded to Biden's lie.  KUDO's to the USCCB on this.

The U.S. bishops criticized Vice President Joe Biden for an “inaccurate statement of fact” about the HHS mandate’s impact on religious institutions during last night’s vice presidential debate.

"With regard to the assault on the Catholic Church, let me make it absolutely clear,” said Biden during the Oct. 11 debate in Danville, Ky.

“No religious institution—Catholic or otherwise, including Catholic social services, Georgetown hospital, Mercy hospital, any hospital—none has to either refer contraception, none has to pay for contraception, none has to be a vehicle to get contraception in any insurance policy they provide,” he argued. “That is a fact.”

“This is not a fact,” responded the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in an Oct. 12 statement.

In responding to Biden’s claims, the bishops’ conference emphasized that the mandate includes only a narrow exemption for religious employers. The exemption applies only to non-profit organizations that exist primarily for the inculcation of religious values and both employ and serve primarily members of their own faith.

Therefore, the conference said, any religious charities, hospitals and social agencies that serve all people of any faith – including Georgetown Hospital and the other organizations named by Biden – are not covered by the exemption, which was finalized in February 2012.

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