“Bottom line, it sounds to me it’s the conscience of Republican politicians who want to tell the women of America what they can do with their bodies”.
Advertisement
The president of National Right to Life today commended Republican leaders of the U.S. House of Representatives for winning passage of a bill to protect health care providers from the growing threat of state-government attempts to coerce participation in abortion.
Rep. Chris Smith, chairman of the Bipartisan Congressional Pro-Life Caucus, said President Obama’s decision to veto the legislation if it passed Congress “is not only unfair and unjustified – it grossly violates the rule of law”.
The legislation protects hospitals, doctors, nurses, and insurance plans from having to carry out, assist, or fund the procedure if they have conscientious objections.
Pro-life members of Congress have responded by introducing the Conscience Protection Act of 2016.
For starters, the Conscience Protection Act is a TRAP (Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers) law, meaning if passed, it could severely limit women’s abortion access.
Representatives from The Catholic Association (TCA) agreed.
A long-standing federal law known as the Weldon Amendment exists to guarantee that health care entities don’t have to be involved abortions in any way if they choose not to.
“There are some laws in place that are supposed to already do this… the Weldon Amendment, the Church Amendment and others”, she explains. An agency of the state of NY has already adopted an abortion mandate, similar to the California policy, requiring small group employers to cover all kinds of abortion.
A new survey by the Knights of Columbus-Marist Institute for Public Opinion Poll shows that 56 percent of Americans believe healthcare professionals and organizations should be able to opt out of performing and covering abortion procedures, as opposed to 37 percent who do not.
There is only one morally defensible, and legally unassailable, position to take on the Conscience Protection Act of 2016, and we hope all members of the House vote to affirm it. Family Research Council urged Congress to pass this significant pro-life legislation.
Yet, after two years of inaction, on June 21 the Office of Civil Rights of the Department of Health and Human Services issued letters finding no violation.
Advertisement
This breach of religious freedom became evident in California, where insurers, regardless of faith, were forced to provide abortion services to employees, per the state’s mandate. The Conscience Protection Act is about basic fairness for everyone.
