On Monday, I joined over 100,000 pro-lifers gathered in
Washington DC to march for the unborn child. Just days before,
in what seemed to be a deliberate attempt to stall this
momentum, the Obama administration’s Health and Human Services
Department (HHS) finalized their all-out war on the conscience
rights of pro-life Americans like you and me.
HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that
organizations providing health insurance for employees would
be required to include coverage for drugs that could lead to
abortions under the term of “preventive services for women.”
This means that abortifacients approved by the FDA like Plan B
and Ella—both of which can take an innocent baby’s life early
in pregnancy—are to be covered.
One might argue that the Obama administration is handing
the US Supreme Court—now considering the constitutionality of
Obamacare—a valid reason to give it the legal boot. Never
before has the government forced Americans to purchase a
product that violates their religious beliefs.
While this move is generally seen to affect contraception,
it shows that Obamacare is rife with abortion. In this
healthcare legislation, Secretary Sebelius is empowered to
decide what constitutes “preventive treatment.” As Governor of
Kansas, Ms. Sebelius demonstrated a hard-core allegiance to
the abortion industry. Forcing pro-life and religious
institutions to pay for abortifacients is only her warm-up
act. She’s primping to be the abortion industry’s “goose that
lays the golden egg” by mandating abortion-on-demand, funded
with your tax dollars, be also covered under this socialized
medicine.
Claiming to give these non-profits one year to adjust to
the new policy, the Obama administration has in reality put an
expiration date on the conscience rights of pro-lifers. Not
cowing to the federal government’s supreme command dooms these
very organizations—ones that seek to love both mothers and
save their babies—to close.
If I sound upset, I am. And you should be too. It’s
alarming that the Obama administration is willing to advance a
pro-abortion agenda while trampling deeply held religious
convictions. Ignoring an outcry by America’s pro-life
community only shows that they won’t allow any obstacle to get
in the way of their pro-death policy.
The threat to both babies yet to be born and the religious
liberty of the many organizations that seek to protect them is
now at a heightened level.
How does that sound for a presidential administration that
prides itself on being “pro-choice?”
For Life ,
Bradley Mattes
Executive Director
Life Issues Institute
