Sarah PalinThis week, we've extensively covered the Catholic Church’s ongoing battle with the Obama administration over a controversial contraception health care mandate (read the complete history here).
While the Catholic Church, in particular, is outraged that affiliated organizations and institutions will be forced to cover contraception, abortion-inducing drugs and sterilization procedures, some prominent political figures are coming out to support the church's stance. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio are, most notably, standing up for believers' rights.
In a Facebook post, Palin railed against the contraceptive mandate. In her brief blog post, she mentioned a recent Washington Post column by Michael Gerson. She wrote the following, while invoking the columnist's words:
As Gershon points out, the timing of Obama's most recent slap won't go unnoticed by the faithful: "In politics, the timing is often the message. On Jan. 20 — three days before the annual March for Life — the Obama administration announced its final decision that Catholic universities, hospitals and charities will be compelled to pay for health insurance that covers sterilization, contraceptives and abortifacients. Preparing for the march, Catholic students gathered for Mass at Verizon Center. The faithful held vigil at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. Knights of Columbus and bishops arrived to trudge in the cold along the Mall. All came to Washington in time for their mocking.”
She went on to say that the "faithful at Notre Dame got snookered" and that this decision is how "Obama has shamefully repaid their faith in him." Here, she's clearly referring to the president's 2009 speech at the Catholic college.
Marco Rubio
In addition to Palin's response, Rubio is taking legislative action to try and prevent the Health and Human Services department from enacting the contraceptive rule. CNN has more:
Sen. Marco Rubio has introduced the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 2012, bringing to the Senate the ever growing charge that President Barack Obama and his administration are violating the rights of religious Americans.The bill looks to repeal health care reform mandates that “violates religious liberties and conscience rights of faith-based institutions,” Rubio said in a news release. [...]
“The Obama Administration’s obsession with forcing mandates on the American people has now reached a new low by violating the conscience rights and religious liberties of our people,” said Rubio, a Florida Republican.
With the debate continuing to heat up and with the Catholic Church and many other non-Catholic Christian leaders claiming they won't comply with the regulation, the battle is far from over.
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