New Hampshire’s Republican party are attempting to divide the country against President Obama by attacking him over a bill that gained bipartisan support in the state 12 years ago.
In 2012 a law was passed in the state that required all prescription drug plans to provide birth control coverage and it didn’t draw an ounce of controversy. Now that contraception has become a national issue however Republicans are attempting to add a religious exemption to the mandate.
According to the House speaker in an interview with NPR :
“The Obama administration is trying to divide this country and to divide women against Catholics,” while touting the change as “a way of guaranteeing religious freedom.”
Shooting back over the accusation a Democratic co-sponsor for the bill points out that it was passed by a Republican legislature in 2000 while they add:
“There was not one comment about religious freedoms.”
The religious exception as expected has gained the support of the Catholic Diocese with Manchester’s chancellor noting:
“We didn’t have a full-time lobbyist in the Legislature” in 1999 and “It’s possible that it was missed.”
While the church is in support of the change the New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union says the exemption will give too many freedoms to change the birth control rule for non-Christian groups and they plan to fight the exemption.
Do you think insurance programs should be forced to cover birth control or should religious groups be allowed to deny that option to their workers who rely on their programs for all of their health issues?
