Missouri Right to Life
Press Release
For Immediate Release:
March 1, 2012
For Information:
573-635-5110
314-966-3889
U.S. Senate Defeats Blunt Amendment to Protect Religious Freedom
The following statement may be attributed to Pam Fichter, President of Missouri Right to Life:
Today, March 1, 2012, the U.S. Senate defeated an amendment offered by Sen. Roy Blunt that would have amended the controversial Obama health care law to prevent the imposition of regulatory mandates that violate the religious or moral convictions of those who purchase or provide health insurance. The successful passage of this amendment would have prevented religiously affiliated hospitals and schools from being forced to purchase health insurance plans that cover all government-approved methods of birth control, which includes abortifacient drugs such as Ella and Plan B. The vote to table the Blunt amendment, thus killing it, was passed by a vote of 51 to 48. Senator Claire McCaskill voted to table the amendment.
This is not about birth control, this is about religious liberty. Exactly the same statutory authority that they are using today to force religious hospitals and schools to provide abortifacient drugs and other forms of birth control could be used by the Administration – as early as next year – to mandate that all health plans pay for elective abortion on demand.
This is a sad day in our country when a majority of the U.S. Senate willingly participates in the destruction of the U.S. Constitution and the freedom of religion. One has to wonder where these violations of our freedom by this administration will end.
The focus now shifts to the U.S. House, where the same legislation, introduced as H.R. 1179 by Congressman Jeff Fortenberry (R-Ne.) currently has 220 cosponsors (more than half of all House members).