O-compromise on conscience? Sure!

The president and the press are trying to confuse us. I found the following pieces very helpful. "This so-called 'accommodation' changes nothing of moral substance and fails to remove the assault on religious liberty and the rights of conscience which gave rise to the controversy. It is certainly no compromise. The reason for the original bipartisan uproar was the administration's insistence that religious employers, be they institutions or individuals, provide insurance that covered services they regard as gravely immoral and unjust. Under the new rule, the government still coerces religious institutions and individuals to purchase insurance policies that include the very same services." Open Letter from Harvard Law Professor Mary Ann Glendon, who will speak at the 2012 fall MCFL Banquet; Princeton Professor Robert George, who will speak at the 2012 MCFL Mothers' Day Dinner; CUA President John Garvey, who hosted and addressed the MCFL Conventions for many years; Notre Dame Law Professor Carter Snead; and Yuval Levin of the Ethics & Public Policy Center Press release from Douglas Johnson, Legislative Director, National Right to Life: "President Obama today promulgated a scam that, if he is re-elected, will allow him to mandate that every health plan in America cover abortion on demand," said NRLC Legislative Director Douglas Johnson. "The same twisted logic will be applied: By ordering health plans to cover elective abortion, health plans would save the much higher costs of prenatal care, childbirth, and care for the baby -- and under the Obama scam, if a procedure saves money, then that means that you're not really paying for it when the government mandates it." By this form of doublespeak, one could say that the federal Medicaid program was not really "funding abortion" when it paid for 300,000 abortions a year (prior to adoption of the Hyde Amendment in 1976), because after all, every abortion that the government paid for also saved the government money. The Obama "you must pay, but nobody pays" scam might also be applied to other "cost-cutting" mandates. Perhaps every health plan will be mandated to cover physician-assisted suicide, in states in which assisted suicide is legal. After all, each suicide would result in a net savings to the plan, and under the Obama scam, that means it is really free and nobody really pays for it. Some journalists have wrongly reported that the ObamaCare law contains language prohibiting the federal government from mandating that health plans cover abortions. This is erroneous. The law prevents the Secretary of Health and Human Services from including abortion in a list of federally mandated "essential health benefits." But the birth control mandate is based on an entirely different provision of the law, which allows the Secretary to mandate that all health plans cover any service that the Secretary places on a list of "preventive" services. There is nothing in the law to prevent the Secretary from placing abortion, assisted suicide, or any other additional services on the preventive services list, nor does the Secretary require the agreement of any other authority in the government to do so -- except, perhaps, the president. At his press conference today, President Obama suggested that the birth-control mandate was recommended by "the nation's leading medical experts." The actual make up of the handpicked panel that made the birth control recommendations was reported by Kathryn Jean Lopez of National Review Online here. NRLC supports enactment of the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act (S. 1467, H.R. 1179), which would allow health providers to decline to provide abortions or other specific medical services on the basis of religious belief or moral convictions. # # # As you are seeing, this issue is generating volumes. I think these three articles will also interest you: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/290664/abortion-rights-advocates-who-compiled-hhs-mandate-kathryn-jean-lopez http://www.ncregister.com/blog/evil-obama-policy-now-even-more-evil/ http://www.onenewsnow.com/Politics/Default.aspx?id=1534294   All along you and I have objected to O-care because of abortion funding, rationing, denial of care, and slashing of conscience rights. Most individuals and groups stuck to the abortion funding but the package seemed so obvious to us. What I want to know is: what does this say about Obama that he would do this now when it will probably ruin him? You can be so proud of all the work you have done - and are doing to fight O-care.  Anne           DONATIONS - WE NEED AND APPRECIATE THEM!      THANK YOU!    For more information about the Pro-Life cause in Massachusetts or to get involved    please visit our website at massprolife.com.