Republican CR Adds A “Conscience Clause”

by William Teach | September 29, 2013 8:38 am

The GOP passed a revised continuing resolution Saturday[1], which seeks to delay the “Affordable” Care Act individual mandate for a year, along with repealing the tax on medical devices (that last is popular with Democrats, too). As John Boehner pointed out, this is what the American People want (well, most want the “Affordable” CA immolated and replaced with a real solution). In that CR we also find

(CNN[2]) House Republicans have added a measure aimed at limiting contraceptive coverage to the spending bill coming up for a vote Saturday night, a spokesman for Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Kansas, told CNN.

A senior House leadership aide confirmed that development.

The so-called “conscience clause” would allow employers and insurers to opt out of preventative care for women which they find objectionable on moral or religious grounds. That prominently includes birth control, which most insurers are required to provide for free under current Obamacare rules.

It’s not just about women, but men, too, since men would be able to purchase contraception and undergo sterilization procedures. That last one is bigger than contraception, along with Obama’s requirement that the health insurance provide abortifacients. It’s sad that this even needs to be encoded in law, considering what the 1st Amendment states in regard to religion.

And, yeah, this has driven the Left to Moonbat Level 8

• Lawyers, Guns, and Money[3] says the GOP is punishing women (because they’re apparently too fragile to be able to earn $10 or so to buy their own condoms and/or birth control pills)
• The Moderate Voice[4] (snicker) calls it insanity to allow people to follow their 1st Amendment right to “conscience”
• The comments at Talking Points Memo[5] are a typical cesspool
• Outside The Beltline[6] thinks this is pandering to the hard-right (and, yes, I consider OTB a lefty site: almost everything is negative about Republicans, could read like The Daily Kos, and features the same type of unhinged liberals commenting, and the liberal comments are very popular, while Conservative comments get “down thumbs”)
• The winner for moonbattery is Little Green Footballs with “And Yes, the GOP Even Managed to Work Denial of Birth Control Into Their Clownish Budget Bill[7]“. Don’t you think it’s rather misogynistic to think women cannot buy their own birth control without the helping hand Of Unkle Same Of Amerika?

And now back to the Senate.

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove[8]. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach[9].