Category: United States

Rubio Introduces Bill To Repeal ObamaCare Mandate Against Religious Freedom

NEWS RELEASE

Office of Marco Rubio

Rubio: “This is a common sense bill that simply says the government can’t force religious organizations to abandon the fundamental tenets of their faith because the government says so.”

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) today introduced the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 2012, a bill to repeal a new ObamaCare mandate that violates the religious liberties and conscience rights of faith-based institutions by forcing them to offer employees insurance coverage for contraceptives.

Earlier this month, the Department of Health and Human Services finalized a new mandate that would require most church-affiliated organizations to offer their workers private insurance coverage without out-of-pocket charges for birth control. The administration ignored efforts by numerous faith-based organizations to be granted an exemption on religious grounds.

“The Obama Administration’s obsession with forcing mandates on the American people has now reached a new low by violating the conscience rights and religious liberties of our people,” said Rubio. “Under this President, we have a government that has grown too big, too costly and now even more overbearing by forcing religious entities to abandon their beliefs. This is a common sense bill that simply says the government can’t force religious organizations to abandon the fundamental tenets of their faith because the government says so.”

The text of the legislation is available here.

National Conscience Protection Grassroots Campaign Launched

NEWS RELEASE

Catholic Advocate

Contact: Matt Smith (202) 521-9828

Catholic Laity can receive toolkit to contact Congress 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Catholic Advocate, a leading grassroots organization in Washington, D.C., today launched a nationwide campaign providing resources for faithful Catholics wanting to speak out against the recently announced Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) final rule affecting conscience protections in health care coverage. The ruling forces organizations providing health plans to cover contraception, abortifacients, and sterilization regardless of their religious beliefs.

“One of the options to address this attack on people of faith is to directly contact our elected officials in Congress to let them know our dissatisfaction with this decision,” said Catholic Advocate President Matt Smith. “Our goal is to have at least 100,000 faithful Catholics participate each month until Congress acts.”

On the day of the HHS announcement, Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan of New York, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) called the laity to this action when he said, “Let your elected leaders know that you want religious liberty and rights of conscience restored and that you want the administration’s contraceptive mandate rescinded.”

Catholic Advocate is asking for at least one leader per parish in this country to sign up at www.ProtectOurConscience.org. There they will have access to a grassroots toolbox to answer the call to rally faithful laity to reinstate our conscience rights.

“There are 17,782 parishes in the United States,” added Smith. “If faithful Catholics were able to average 115 letters per parish to their Representative and each Senator, Capitol Hill would receive over six million contacts on this issue. We would send a powerful message that cannot be ignored.”

A primary focus of this nationwide grassroots campaign is building additional support for H.R. 1179/S. 1467 – the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act introduced by Representative Jeff Fortenberry (Nebraska, 1st District) and Senator Roy Blunt (Missouri) respectively.

The legislation amends the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) “to permit a health plan to decline coverage of specific items and services that are contrary to the religious beliefs of the sponsor, issuer, or other entity offering the plan or the purchaser or beneficiary (in the case of individual coverage) without penalty.” It also applies similar guidance to state health insurance exchange programs and becomes retroactive to when PPACA was signed into law by President Obama.

[Text of release (.pdf)]

Catholic Advocate | 2100 M Street, NW Suite 170-358 | Washington, DC 20037   (202) 521-9828  |  info@catholicadvocate.com

Protection of conscience bill introduced in US Senate to stop HHS regulation

In response to the Obama administration’s plan to suppress the exercise of freedom of conscience by employers opposed to contraceptives, embryocidal and abortificaient drugs and services, Senator Mario Rubio of Florida has introduced the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 2012 in the U.S. Senate.  [News release]

 

Over half of Catholic bishops in USA have spoken out against new law

According to a Catholic blog, over half of the Catholic bishops who are in charge of dioceses in the United States have spoken out publicly against the Obama administration’s regulation that will force employers with 50 or more employees to pay for health insurance for contraceptive, and embryocidal drugs and devices.  Catholic Vote has identified 116 bishops to date, and is keeping an updated list.  It appears that a number have repeated the statement that they “cannot – . . .will not – comply with this unjust law.”

         

White House Press Secretary downplays revolt over HHS mandate

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney states that he does not think that the Department of Health and Human Services regulation requiring employers to pay for insurance coverage for “contraceptive services”  raises any constitutional issues.  He also claims that the Obama administration supports “existing conscience protections.” He was responding to a question from a reporter who described the adverse response of the American Catholic bishops as “a pretty extraordinary situation.”  Many of the bishops have said that they will not comply with the law.  Asked if that would have consquences, Carney avoided the question.  [See “It was a pretty extraordinary situation . . .”]