Feb 23, 2012 / 18:08 pm
The Republican presidential candidates denounced the Obama administration's contraception mandate as an attack on family and religious freedom, which they described as fundamental pillars of society.
“I don’t think we’ve seen in the history of this country the kind of attack on religious conscience, religious freedom, religious tolerance that we’ve seen under Barack Obama,” said former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney.
At a Feb. 22 debate at the Mesa Arts Center in Mesa, Ariz., the candidates condemned a federal mandate that would require employers to offer health insurance plans that include contraception, sterilization and abortion-inducing drugs, even if doing so violates their consciences.
Although the Obama administration has offered an “accommodation” for religious freedom, the U.S. bishops and many other religious groups are not satisfied with it. The accommodation would require employers to purchase health care plans from insurance companies that would offer the controversial products and procedures free of charge.