Fox's Doocy Hides Religious Accommodation For Reproductive Health Mandate

Fox News' Steve Doocy falsely claimed that the Obama administration was forcing churches to provide contraception coverage to employees, ignoring an exemption that explicitly exempts religious institutions.

On Fox & Friends, Doocy reported on tensions between Catholic Cardinal Timothy Dolan and President Obama due to a Health and Human Services (HHS) rule mandating that all health insurance plans cover women's reproductive health. After religious leaders, including Dolan, protested the move, the Obama administration exempted churches and other religious groups from the mandate.

But Doocy not only ignored the religious accommodations made by the administration on the contraception mandate; he falsely claimed that the mandate still applied to the Catholic Church:

DOOCY: You may remember the Archdiocese of New York is among 40 Catholic groups that are suing the president over his healthcare mandate, which says that employers must provide health care insurance that covers birth control. The Catholic Church says they can't do it, but the federal government says they must. Hence, the lawsuit. 

Doocy's misinformation on the reproductive health mandate is just the latest in Fox's dishonest campaign to portray Obama as waging a “war on religion.” Fox has used the mandate to smear the president as anti-Catholic and anti-religion and has consistently ignored evidence that many Catholics, as well as Catholic and other religious institutions, support the measure.