FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 26, 2013
Contact: Mallory Quigley, 202-223-8073
Mandate Infringes on Fundamental Conscience Rights
WASHINGTON, D.C. –Susan B. Anthony List (SBA List) President Marjorie Dannenfelser today applauded the Supreme Court’s decision to take up the Hobby Lobby and Conestoga cases against the Obama Administration’s HHS abortion-drug mandate.
“We applaud the Supreme Court for taking up this case addressing our fundamental freedom of religion and conscience. During the debate over the Affordable Care Act, Americans were assured that these rights would be honored, but as Obamacare is rolled out, we see this is simply not the case. Some former Members of Congress who were the linchpins to its passage now publicly lament voting for the bill, which cost them their job during the 2010 midterm elections. Both former Representatives Bart Stupak and Kathy Dahlkemper have decried the fact that with the HHS Mandate, President Obama violated the abortion funding ‘compromise’ they thought they had secured.
Earlier this year, the SBA List led a pro-life coalition of more than 30 national and local groups under the banner of www.Call2Conscience.com. The campaign urged Congress to include language to protect conscience rights in any continuing resolutions to fund the government.
“The HHS abortion drug mandate is only one of the many promises that were broken. Research done by the Charlotte Lozier Institute found that, as it stands, as many as 111,500 additional abortions per year could be heavily subsidized by taxpayers through federal premium tax credits and the Medicaid expansion.”
The Susan B. Anthony List and the Charlotte Lozier Institute also previously submitted a joint comment to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services condemning the mandate because of its impact on groups with pro-life convictions based on civil and ethical concerns and not just religious doctrine.
The Susan B. Anthony List, and its affiliated Political Action Committees, the SBA List Candidate Fund and Women Speak Out PAC, are dedicated to pursuing policies and electing candidates who will reduce and ultimately end abortion. To that end, the SBA List emphasizes the education, promotion, mobilization, and election of pro-life women. The SBA List is a network of more than 365,000 pro-life Americans nationwide.
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