The Senate Democrats, led by Patty Murray, have called for an immediate vote on S. 2578, disingenuously titled the Protect Women’s Health from Corporate Interference Act. It should be known for what it is, the Anti-Religious Freedom bill.
S. 2578 seeks to override the Supreme Court’s decision in the Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood cases. Unhappy with the Religious Freedom Restoration Act’s (RFRA) standard that the government cannot substantially burden our Constitutionally-recognized religious freedom without showing a compelling interest and using the least restrictive means, these Senate Democrats want to create a right for the abortion industry to use the coercive force of government to trample pro-life Americans’ rights.
The bill mandates that employers cannot “deny” insurance coverage of any item required by federal law or regulation. Effectively, this writes a blank check to the Obama Administration (or future administrations) to force employers to pay for insurance coverage of any drugs, devices, and services—even if that employer has a religious or consciences objection.
Notably, the Anti-Religious Freedom bill is not limited to “contraceptive services.” There is nothing in this bill to preclude the federal government from forcing an employer to cover even late-term abortion.
The HHS Mandate already seeks to force conscientious employers to pay for life-ending drugs and devises misleadingly labeled as “contraception”—including ella, a drug which can end a young human life even after implantation. HHS might, in the future, issue a regulation adding RU-486, or even surgical abortion, to its list of required “preventive services” under the Mandate. If this were combined with the enactment of the Anti-Religious Freedom bill, no law would be able to protect pro-life Americans from being coerced to provide such objectionable services.
This bill is a clear illustration of the way the tactics of the abortion lobby are publicly moving from Choice to Coercion. The abortion lobby no longer hides behind its ‘freedom to choose’ facade—it openly seeks to force conscientious Americans to pay for coverage of life-ending drugs, devices, and services.
Rather than use any number of less restrictive means at its disposal to achieve its stated goal, Senate Democrats are pushing this Anti-Religious Freedom bill to undermine RFRA, and other conscience protections that might inconvenience the abortion lobby.
It is essential that pro-life Americans reach out to their Senators today to ask them to vote against this dangerous and coercive law.
