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BREAKING! House Passes Bill to Stop Government From Forcing People to Participate in Abortions

Ben Johnson : Jul 14, 2016
LifeSiteNews

The bill also allows victims of discrimination to sue in civil court.

(Washington, DC) — [LifeSiteNews] The House of Representatives have passed the Conscience Protection Act of 2016 (S. 304), by a 245-182 vote. 

Three dependable pro-life Democrats - Henry Cuellar, Daniel Lipinski, and Collin Peterson - voted for the bill, while one pro-abortion Republican – Richard Hanna - voted against it.

The bill, which would prevent the government from discriminating against any health care provider who refuses to "perform, refer for, pay for, or otherwise participate in abortion," also allows victims of discrimination to sue in civil court.

The law would codify into law the Weldon Amendment, an amendment passed every year since 2004 but which Republicans and the U.S. Catholic bishops say the Obama administration has ignored.

On the House floor today, several Republicans quoted President Obama's 2009 speech at Notre Dame, in which he said, "Let us honor the conscience of those who disagree with abortion and draft a sensible conscience clause" related to ObamaCare.

Yet last month, the Obama administration ruled that two Catholic universities in California must offer abortion coverage in their health insurance plans, despite their religious objections.

Congress also heard the story of Cathy Cenzon-Decarlo, a New York nurse who says her hospital forced to participate in the dismemberment abortion of a 22-week-old baby. After the abortion, she had to count the baby's limbs, a process she had described as "a horror film unfolding."

President Obama announced yesterday that he will veto the Conscience Protection Act if it reaches his desk, because it "would have the consequence of limiting women's health care choices."

Democrats: The bill allows "discrimination against women"

Several House Democrats tried to position the bill as a misogynist measure intended to deny women "access" to their "constitutionally protected" right to abortion-on-demand by no longer requiring all employers to pay for its coverage. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-NY, said pro-life lawmakers secretly hope "to use the premise of religion to allow further discrimination against women. We must not let them succeed."

"We see your bias. We see your intent. And we won't let you enshrine discrimination into federal law," he said.

Rep. Jim McGovern, D-MA, said that "this terrible bill" ultimately "leaves the decision whether a woman can have an abortion or not in the hands of her boss."

"It is crazy that we're here debating a bill like this," McGovern said. "We have better things to do."

"When will the Republicans' war on women ever end?" asked New Jersey Democrat Frank Pallone.

But Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-NC, called his argument "disgusting" and a "red herring."

"This bill would allow employers to continue..."

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