Six things to know, from the USCCB blog:
1. The mandate does not exempt Catholic charities, schools, universities, or hospitals. These
institutions are vital to the mission of the Church, but HHS does not
deem them "religious employers" worthy of conscience protection, because
they do not "serve primarily persons who share the[ir] religious
tenets." HHS denies these organizations religious
freedom precisely because their purpose is to serve the common good of
societya purpose that government should encourage, not punish.
2. The mandate forces these institutions and others, against their conscience, to pay for things they consider immoral. Under the mandate, the government forces religious insurers to write policies that violate their beliefs; forces religious employers and schools to sponsor and subsidize coverage that violates their beliefs; and forces religious employees and students to purchase coverage that violates their beliefs.
3. The mandate forces coverage of sterilization and abortion-inducing drugs and devices as well as contraception. Though
commonly called the "contraceptive mandate," HHS's mandate also forces
employers to sponsor and subsidize coverage of sterilization. And,
by including all drugs approved by the FDA for use as contraceptives,
the HHS mandate includes drugs that can induce abortion, such as "Ella,"
a close cousin of the abortion pill RU-486.
Read the rest here.