Coats: White House “Compromise” on Contraception Mandate is Unacceptable

WASHINGTON, DC – Senator Dan Coats (R-Ind.) today issued the following statement regarding President Barack Obama’s “compromise” on his administration’s rule under the health care law requiring church-affiliated organizations, charities, hospitals and educational institutions to provide and pay for insurance coverage that includes contraceptives and abortion-inducing drugs despite moral objections:

“Today’s announcement changes nothing. Whether religious employers are forced to pay directly for contraceptives and abortion-inducing drugs or to act as facilitators, their religious liberty remains compromised. But what the president fails to understand is that when it comes to freedom of religion - a core American principle – there is no room for compromise. It is unconstitutional and just plain wrong for the federal government to require faith-based institutions to betray the fundamental tenets of their beliefs. President Obama remains intent on ignoring the First Amendment and the millions of Americans opposed to this radical rule. It is now time for the bipartisan group in Congress who strongly disagree with the administration’s mandate to join together and rescind this unprecedented attack on religious and faith-based organizations.”

Click here to watch Senator Coats discuss this issue on the Senate floor earlier this week.