Continuing the contraception brouhaha at the Mesa debate last night, Mitt Romney, attacked President Obama on that issue:
“I don't think we've seen in the history of this country the kind of attack on religious conscience, religious freedom, religious tolerance that we've seen under Barack Obama.”
Steve Benen responded this morning:
Think about that one for a moment. The Obama administration is including contraception coverage as part of preventive health care for Americans -- a decision a clear majority of the country heartily supports. The administration is exempting churches and other houses of worship, and has crafted a compromise so that religiously-affiliated employers will not have to pay for contraception coverage directly.
This is the biggest "attack" on religious freedom in the history of the United States? How is it, exactly, that a sane person could believe this?
Or more to the point, how is it that a Mormon, whose church faced actual attacks and discrimination, could see contraception access as a more serious assault on "religious tolerance"?
Of note, RomneyCare in Massachusetts vastly expanded contraception access, a fact which Romney defended last night. His characterization of the RomneyCare contraception coverage could apply just as easily to that provided by the Affordable Care Act which he had the gall to attack. Think Progress:
Under Romneycare, the state’s Commonwealth Care — which offers subsidized, low or no-cost insurance program for low-income residents without access to employer-sponsored health insurance — provides primary and preventive care that includes “family planning services” and prescription contraceptives. Massachusetts employers that are not “a church or qualified church-controlled organization” must also cover hormone replacement therapy and all FDA-approved contraceptive methods.
In 2005, Romney also “signed a bill that could expand the number of people who get family-planning services, including the morning-after pill.” Romney even pressured the state Department of Health and Human Services to issue regulations that required Catholic hospitals to issue the morning after pill to rape victims, despite initially vetoing the bill and claiming that the pill constituted an “abortifacient.” “My personal view in my heart of hearts is that people who are subject to rape should have the option of having emergency contraceptives or emergency contraceptive information,” he told the Boston Herald at the time.
Of one thing I have no doubt whatsoever. Mr. Romney is a most egregious liar.















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