Wednesday, February 8, 2012
1:44 PM
Moore defends HHS rule requiring contraception coverage
U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore joined three of her House Dem colleagues this afternoon to criticize House Speaker John Boehner's call to repeal a new federal rule requiring employer-provided insurance to cover contraception.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services rule would include faith-based employers, which has sparked opposition among conservatives.
In a speech on the House floor Wednesday, Boehner, R-Ohio, charged that "the federal government is violating a First Amendment right that has stood for more than two centuries, and it is doing so in a manner that affects millions of Americans and harms some of our nation’s most vital institutions."
Moore, of Milwaukee, said the decision from the Obama administration "comes down on the side of the majority of women who want access to not only religious freedom, but freedom, period."
"We all respect and benefit from the separation of church and state," Moore said in a conference call. "I don't think that this should be construed as the ability of the church to get in its bully pulpit and separate over a million women and their families from desperately and critically needed health care."
U.S. Reps. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., added, "It's absolutely amazing that in 2012, there is controversy over women's access to birth control."
Lois Capps of California and Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut also joined the call, which was organized by liberal group Americans United For Change.
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