After two weeks of increasingly intense criticism over Obamacare’s disregard for religious liberty, the White House woke up this morning in a mood to “accommodate” its critics.
Perhaps White House officials should have signaled that to Senate Democrats yesterday before Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid blocked an amendment sponsored by Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) to preserve faith-based groups’ religious liberty and not force them to take actions contrary to their beliefs and teachings.
Instead, the White House maintains its goal-overriding objections of conscience to mandate insurance coverage for birth control, abortion-inducing drugs and sterilization—while slightly shifting how to get there.
Under the President’s proposal, employers and employees will still bear the cost of paying for coverage of contraception, abortion-inducing drugs, and sterilization because insurance companies will simply pass on the cost of this “free” service with higher premiums to the employer.
It’s clear that this route does not veer off President Obama’s current collision course with the religious liberty of faith-based groups. Those organizations provide vital services and ministries-from hospitals to religious schools to work with prisoners-across the country.
Problems like these will be with us for as long as Obamacare is the law of the land – they don’t go away with the President’s announcement.
We will continue to react to the President’s announcement in the coming hours and days.
On Monday, Feb. 13, Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO) will speak at The Heritage Foundation at 11:30 about how Obamacare tramples on religious liberty and freedom generally, and what can be done about it. Join us live or tune in to watch online.
Click here to view this post in Spanish on Libertad.org.
