Birth Control Recommended for Health Care Plans
WASHINGTON -- Congressional Republicans are vowing to
roll back the Obama administration's controversial policy that forces
religious-affiliated groups to cover contraceptives in their health care plans.
"This attack by the federal government on religious
freedom in our country must not stand and will not stand," Speaker of the
House John Boehner, R-OH, said.
The White House says President Barack Obama is trying to
protect women. Republicans say he has gone too far.
"This is not a women's rights issue," Sen. Kelly
Ayotte, R-NH, said. "This is a religious liberty issue."
The Catholic Church had hoped to get a waiver for the new
policy, but it did not.
"The mandate is actually - is - government imposing on
the church requirements that are against our conscience," the Archbishop
of Louisville, Most Rev. Joseph Kurtz, said.
And now the issue is a talking point in the 2012
presidential campaign.
"This is wrong. If I am president of the United States,
I will restore and protect our religious liberty in this great country," presidential
candidate Mitt Romney said.
Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, also a presidential
candidate, said Obama was "deliberately undermining religious liberty in
this country."
The White House argues the policy isn't anti-religion.
"The president's focused on putting in place the right
policies for women across the country," White House Press Secretary Jay
Carney said.
And Senate Democrats are promising to fight back.
"It's medicine," argued Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-CA. "And
women deserve their medicine."
NBC