Senators introduce bill to reverse Obama birth control decision
AP Photo
Senators Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, and Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, said the "Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 2012" would ensure that employers at schools, hospitals and other organizations with ties to religious groups don't have to violate their consciences.
"Under our Constitution, religious organizations have the freedom to follow their beliefs, and government should honor that," said Manchin. Added Rubio: "We cannot allow the government of the United States to abuse its power by forcing faith-based organizations to pay for something they are morally opposed to."
The Obama administration announced last month that while churches and other explicitly religious organizations will be exempt from requirements that employers provide birth control coverage to their employees, religiously-affiliated organizations will not be exempt.
The decision angered many Catholics, including some who are largely supportive of President Obama's policies. (Manchin is one of four Senate Democrats who have expressed dissatisfaction with the requirement.) On "CBS This Morning" Thursday, the head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York, said he hoped the "massive negative reaction to this ruling" will prompt the Obama administration to reverse course and broaden the exemption. The Republican presidential candidates, meanwhile, have harshly attacked the administration over the issue on the campaign trail.
A poll by the Public Religion Research Institute found that a slim majority of Americans - including Catholics - believe that "employers should be required to provide their employees with health care plans that cover contraception and birth control at no cost."
On Wednesday, House Speaker John Boehner said that if the White House did not expand the exemption, Congress would take action to do so, saying legislative action would go through the Energy and Commerce Committee. In a rare floor speech, Boehner argued that the "federal government has drifted dangerously beyond its constitutional boundaries," and called the decision "an unambiguous attack on religious freedom."
Many Democrats have defended the administration's decision, with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi saying Thursday the issue is "about women's health."
"And it's not just about the women," she added. "It's about their children and the health of their families as they make serious decisions and use contraception to determine the, as I said, the size and timing of their families."
The White House has said it is taking concern surrounding the issue "very seriously," though it has also said women should have access to contraceptive coverage. One possible compromise would be for such coverage to be made available to women who work at religiously-affiliated institutions without the institutions needing to provide the coverage themselves.
Popular in Politics
- Obama prom pictures surface 103 Comments
- IRS official Lois Lerner placed on leave
- Protester heckles Obama during counterterrorism speech Play Video
- Obama: America at a "crossroads" in fighting terrorism 106 Comments
- Rep. Jo Bonner to resign from House for university job
- Obama announces steps toward Guantanamo closure
- Obama: The war on terror, "like all wars, must end" Play Video
- Obama to tour Jersey Shore with Gov. Christie
http://www.reversemortgagelendersdirect.com/reverse-mortgage-information/
http://www.reversemortgagelendersdirect.com/reverse-mortgage-calculator/
http://www.reversemortgagelendersdirect.com/reverse-mortgages-pros-and-cons/
is a religious issue only because they're making it one.
The GOP seems to think that the catholic theology should be the law of the land.
President Obama stepped in to be sure that the religious rights of all the rest
of us will be respected.
The GOP, apparently, is too "thick-headed" to understand what President Obama said.
Well, giving that a little thought, I realize that the Republican politicians
are not "thick-headed;" they are outright lying. They know that President Obama
did not say that Catholic institutions have to pay for contraceptives. He said
that all women must have access to no-copay contraception, without interference
from their employers. The Catholics, it seems, think that women should be deterred
as much as possible from making those decisions for themselves. Contraceptives are
expensive, an expense which many women cannot afford.
You'd think, with the Catholics breeding like rabbits, and having to provide for
and take care of those large broods, they'd have enough to keep them busy, so they
wouldn't have time to mind somebody else's business. GOP and Catholics -- women did
NOT put y'all in charge. You're infringing on our right to privacy. Butt out!
If any woman votes for any Republican in 2012, she should have her head examined.
Women unite! Stand up and fight back against this indignity!
The headline shouted about Obama to guarantee Religious Freedoms!!
Well, perhaps Obama should actually READ THE CONSTITUTION....!!!!
WHich GUARANTEES the right to religious freedom.
Only thing is, the FF using their crystal ball wrote the words with care.
For they guaranteed that freedom even if you do not believe in a deity!
As seen in the comments I have read, folks get worked up about how "their God" would react to abortion, homosexuality etc etc.
As the ancient books from which modern western civilization sourced its religions were written well before "Social Media", translation has made a mess of the truth these men of Roman times were trying to get across.
In the times of the rules of Kings and Caesar, there was one concept of Freedom. The Freedom which a Roman Citizen possessed, by being BORN Roman.
Today the United States has the same significance. A US Citizen is viewed (in most of the world apart from the crazies), as contemporary with Rome in that respect.
Which is why it is good that the Founding Fathers began a system where, even though religion has its influence, men can freely disagree with it.
Now this may not suit the Born Again crowd or the Roman Catholics and also the Non Conformists, but that is to the good, for even the President can be disagreed with if he interferes with the beliefs of Americans. But just now and again it would be good if the White House could just refer to the Constitution when they are drafting a Presidential speech!
This had to be an unforeseen turn in the road...
I'm therefore stripping practically everything out of my employees' policies. If I can't, I won't be able to sleep nights, because I would have a guilty conscience imagining to what unnatural ends they might choose to apply their insurance toward, and of course I can't be stopped from stripping out those policies, because my Republican friends are backing me on this, since it is a matter of my own religious freedom.
Plus, I save a lot on the health premiums I pay to cover my work force, since their pay package basically only includes chiropractic care and homeopathy, which don't offend my religious scruples because I deem them entirely ineffective.
You are a great satirist.
The whole issue is a visceral vaporous farce.
Here's the deal:
1. A bipartisan Congress approved this same covered measure in 2001 and was signed into law by Bush.
2. The change is in the insurance companies benefits, not some additional incremental amount somehow paid from a public or private employer.
3. Most Catholic colleges and hopsitals ALREADY have isurers that COVER contraceptives. Churches are exempted as employers from this requirement, but not non-profit employers affiliated with the church.
4. THE EMPLOYER IS NOT PAYING DIRECTLY FOR CONTRACEPTIVES, but Insurance coverage premiums.
The fire here is a strawman and it is burning strong and for what? Birth Control Pills?