For further information:
Jessica Rodgers, 202-626-8825,
mediarelations@nrlc.org
National Right to Life Committee:
Fight for conscience rights to continue in House,
courts, and ballot box
WASHINGTON – The National Right to
Life Committee (NRLC), the national federation of
state right-to-life organizations, said today that
it would continue to challenge the Obama
Administration’s authority to mandate that virtually
all employers pay for services they regard as
morally objectionable, both in Congress and through
political action.
The U.S. Senate today rejected an
initial attempt to prevent the Obama Administration
from forcing employers to provide health insurance
that covers drugs or procedures to which they are
morally opposed. By
a vote of 51-48, the Senate tabled (killed) an
amendment offered by pro-life Senator Roy Blunt
(R-Mo.) and strongly supported by NRLC. The text of
the Blunt Amendment is taken from an NRLC-endorsed
bill, the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act (S.
1467, H.R. 1179). It would amend the Obama health
care law (“ObamaCare”) to prevent the use of that
law to issue regulatory mandates that violate the
religious or moral convictions of those who purchase
or provide health insurance.
The Blunt legislation does not
affect any federal law other than ObamaCare, nor
does it apply to state laws. In addition, the
legislation does not allow any insurer to
“discriminate against individuals because of their
age, disability, or expected length of life.”
The Obama Administration has
issued an initial mandate that requires nearly all
employers to purchase plans that cover all
FDA-approved methods of birth control. NRLC has
pointed out that the same authority could be
employed by the Administration in the future to
order virtually all health plans to
cover all abortions.
The focus now shifts to the House,
where the same legislation, introduced as
H.R. 1179 by Congressman Jeff Fortenberry
(R-Ne.), currently has 220 cosponsors (more than
half of all House members). In addition, numerous
lawsuits have been filed by religiously affiliated
employers, challenging the Obama mandate as a
violation of constitutional rights and of the
federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
“National Right to Life
will continue to challenge the Obama
Administration’s abortion-expansionist agenda on
Capitol Hill, and we will encourage millions of
like-minded Americans to remember this issue when
they cast their ballots in November,”
said Carol Tobias, National Right to Life president.
Founded in 1968, the National
Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the federation of 50
state right-to-life affiliates and more than 3,000
local chapters, is the nation's oldest and largest
grassroots pro-life organization. Recognized as the
flagship of the pro-life movement, NRLC works
through legislation and education to protect
innocent human life from abortion, infanticide,
assisted suicide and euthanasia.
