The U.S. House of Representatives voted late Wednesday night, July 13, along party lines, 245-182, to pass a bill being called the “Conscience Protection Act of 2016.”
The bill, shockingly sponsored by a woman, Rep. Diane Black, would restrict a woman’s constitutional right to make reproductive health decisions with her doctor. In what is being perceived as an election year stunt, the GOP wants to give religiously motivated employers the option to pick and choose what medical procedures will be in employee insurance plans.
Said another way, they want people’s beliefs in certain gods to carry more weight than the actual lives and choices of real women.
Speaker of the House Paul Ryan worded it this way in an interview with the ETWN Global Catholic Network:
“This is something that I’m really worried about, which is the government is using its power to deny people their First Amendment conscience rights. This is something we feel very strong about. I really worry that our conscience and our religious freedom is under attack in America by our government.”
He is right in that the First Amendment guarantees the freedom of religion, but to suggest that the First Amendment allows beliefs in supernatural beings to become an impediment to women’s health is ludicrous.
Unsurprisingly, the anti-choice crowd was ecstatic with the vote.
Tony Perkins, of the right wing group the Family Research Council, said:
“No person, organization or healthcare provider should ever be forced by the government to participate in the abhorrent act of abortion.”
A statement that sounds reasonable on its face, until you look at it through the lens of women’s health mandates under Obamacare. What Perkins is describing as “forced by the government to participate,” actually means to provide access to procedures covered by insurance.
U.S. Representative Lois Frankel spoke in opposition to the bill by saying:
“Under the guise of conscience protection, this is a hypocritical bill that would make it even harder for women to obtain the reproductive healthcare they need.”
Watch both Paul Ryan and Lois Frankel defend their positions below:
