Would Jesus Pay for Abortions?

That question may seem sacrilegious to some, and for that I apologize, but it seems pertinent in light of the Obama Administration’s new rule, announced by HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelious on January 20, that religious institutions providing social services must provide coverage for contraception, sterilization procedures and early abortifacients to all of their employees as part of their insurance plans.

If Jesus conducted his earthly ministry in the U.S. today instead of in Judaea 2,000 years ago, how might He have handled modern cultural questions?

From the Lazarus story, we might infer He’d support health insurance coverage for His disciples. From the loaves and fishes story, we observe He conducted charity work. So the new HHS regulation would apply to His ministry. How might He have responded?

While leaving that question for readers to ponder, I commend to everyone Horace Cooper’s new paper, “The Birth Control Mandate is Unconstitutional.” Horace doesn’t predict what Jesus would do if directly faced by this HHS regulation, but Horace has a pretty firm prediction about what the Supreme Court will say if Congress does not — as it should — promptly overturn this rule.