HSS contraceptive mandate conversation at LCU on Tuesday

[March 09, 2012]  Are you curious to know why the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services contraceptive mandate is such a controversial subject? On Tuesday, the Lincoln Christian University School of Adult & Graduate Studies will present a lecture entitled "The HHS 'Contraceptive' Mandate: What Does this Mean for Religious Institutions?"

The presentation will be at 7 p.m. in Restoration Hall on the LCU campus.

Area church leaders and administrators of faith-based organizations are invited to participate in this opportunity to learn more about the implications of this controversial mandate. The HHS mandate would require religious institutions to provide insurance coverage for contraception, including some forms that many people find objectionable.

The lecture is the second in a series of bioethics conversations sponsored by LCU's School of Adult & Graduate Studies and will feature Mailee Smith, staff counsel for Americans United for Life. As an attorney and legal scholar, Smith will share her opinions on the implications of the U.S. president's recent Health and Human Services preventive care mandate.

As staff counsel for Chicago-based Americans United for Life, a leading pro-life organization, Smith is often called on to write legal arguments for the U.S. Supreme Court. She is also the associate editor of "Defending Life," AUL's annual state-by-state legal guide on abortion, bioethics and end-of-life legislation and court decisions.

Smith has been published in a number of other publications, including "Tracking the FDA's Approval of Plan B: 10 Years of Endangering Women's Health," a "Culture of Life Brief" (July 27, 2009); and "Abortion and the Protection of the Unborn: A Survey of Federal and State Law," in "Defending Life 2006: Proven Strategies for a Pro-Life America" (Denise Burke, ed. 2006).

Smith earned her bachelor's degree from Greenville University and a juris doctorate from Valparaiso University School of Law. She was admitted into the bar in November 2003. In addition to her work for AUL, Smith serves as an adjunct professor in bioethics at Lincoln Christian University and Trinity Evangelical University.

LCU's School of Adult & Graduate Studies is sponsoring four bioethics conversations this spring in an effort to help engage the community. The conversations will address questions and concerns regarding current ethical issues in the field of medicine and health.

The School of Adult & Graduate Studies recently introduced a new master's degree program in bioethics, offered at Methodist Medical Center in Peoria. For more information, contact Robert Kurka at [e-mail].s

[Text from file received from Lincoln Christian University]