Some federal workers in Illinois can now enroll in a Catholic-run health insurance plan that doesn't cover abortion, contraceptives, or fertility treatments. The plan is the first of its kind for federal workers. OSF HealthPlans is offering the plan to 4,000 eligible residents of 27 counties in central and northern Illinois. It is administered by a company owned and operated by nuns. The executive director of the Illinois Catholic Health Association says the plan allows government employees to "exercise their moral judgment." But Gloria Feldt, president of Planned Parenthood, calls it "just another part of the Bush administration's attacks on access to family planning and birth control" and a health plan "blatantly designed to foster one religion's point of view." William Donohue of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights chastises Planned Parenthood -- supposedly a pro-choice group -- for coming out so strongly against federal workers having a choice such as OSF HealthPlans. "Planned Parenthood is afraid [this] initiative might catch on," Donohue says. "This is one 'Sister Act' all Catholics can savor."
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