President Trump is Set to End Obama's Rule Requiring Employers to Pay for Abortions

Fr. Mark Hodges : Aug 18, 2017
LifeSiteNews

“We are glad President Trump is following through with his pro-life, pro-religious freedom promises.” – Kristan Hawkins

(Washington, DC) — [LifeSiteNews] The Wall Street Journal reported that President Trump is about to eliminate what pro-lifers call the most offensive portion in Obamacare. (Photo Credit: President Donald Trump/ LifeSiteNews)

The Journal says the Trump administration is “poised” to issue an executive order to take back the Health and Human Services (HHS) mandate that all employers pay for abortifacients, sterilization, and contraception insurance.

The HHS mandate has been the subject of lawsuits from church groups and Christian employers since it was implemented in 2011 by then-HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, the former Kansas governor and Planned Parenthood-funded abortion activist. The president wanted to guarantee contraception — including abortifacient “morning-after” drugs — as a basic right for all citizens.

“Federal health officials are expected to finalize a regulation that would allow employers with religious or moral objections … to omit coverage,” the Wall Street Journal reported. 

“We applaud the Trump administration for rolling back the contraception mandate,” Students for Life of America’s Kristan Hawkins wrote in a press release today. “No person or group should be forced to pay for something that goes against their religious or moral beliefs by bureaucrats in Washington, especially drugs that have been proven to harm women and potentially end the life of an early human being.”

Trump’s anticipated order will allow employers with religious objections to opt out of covering contraception or abortion in their employees’ insurance plans. Employees may privately pay for such coverage.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) assistant counsel Hillary Byrnes told the Wall Street Journal that Trump’s expected rule “would go a very long way to restoring religious freedom and conscience rights.”

Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-California, characterized the potential order as a “sickening plan to roll back women’s access to contraception.”

Getting rid of Obamacare’s forced abortion coverage mandate was a major campaign promise of the president. “We are glad President Trump is following through with his pro-life, pro-religious freedom promises,” Hawkins added.

Christian Evangelicals, Catholic hospitals, Christian universities, and the USCCB have publicly pushed for the “choking” mandate to be rescinded. 

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