Huelskamp: HHS Mandate is "Thinly-Veiled Religious Bigotry"

Press Release

In early 2012, the Department of Health & Human Services announced that it would require all employers who are required to provide health insurance to cover and pay for contraception and abortion drugs. The rule took effect today, August 1, 2012, and now all but a handful of employers are required to pay for health care coverage -- even if they have religious or moral objections to paying for contraception and abortion drugs. Although the Obama Administration said that they would offer an "accommodation" for religious employers, the rule was finalized without any exemptions.

Congressman Huelskamp joined other members of his freshman class to decry "The Day Religious Freedom Died." During his brief remarks, Congressman Huelskamp explained that the mandate is "thinly-veiled religious bigotry," and demonstrates how it embodies "anti-Catholic" policy-making.

After the news conference, Congressman Huelskamp said: "The Obama Administration has once again displayed its thinly-veiled religious bigotry and put its own agendas ahead of the Constitution and the religious liberties of Americans. It is an abomination that President Obama and Secretary Sebelius believe it is OK for the government to force people to violate their consciences. We would cry foul at any other nation coercing people to act in ways that undermine or contradict their religious teachings. For a nation founded on the principle of religious liberty, this mandate is abhorrent and downright un-American. Drawing attention to this issue is not about any one religious group, but about all of us, and what the history, tradition, and core of our nation represent."

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