The New Hampshire House has moved to reconsider passage of a controversial bill requiring pregnant women to wait 24 hours before receiving an abortion. The bill would also require them to receive explicit information on fetal development.
North Country representatives were evenly split on the vote for House Bill 1546, which NHPR reported allows “any employer with a religious objection to deny workers insurance coverage for contraceptives.”
Supporters of the bill said it was about religious freedom.
Opponents note the Catholic church helped draft the bill and say it supports its anti-contraception views.
The New Hampshire House voted to allow any employer with a religious objection to deny workers insurance coverage for contraceptives.
Adding an exemption to New Hampshire’s 12-year-old law requiring contraceptives be covered in all drug plans has become a priority for House Speaker William O'Brien. And his leadership team pushed the bill through over strong objection from Democrats and a gallery full of protesters.
Thursday New Hampshire’s senators voted along party lines as the Senate rejected an amendment to unwind a controversial new contraceptive rule from the Obama Administration.
Instead of requiring religious institutions to provide birth control in their health care plans, the White House pivoted and is now forcing insurance companies to provide contraception free of charge. Missouri Senator Roy Blunt’s amendment would have allowed employers to decide their own coverage based upon their religious beliefs. Republican Senator Kelly Ayotte supported the amendment.
The Senate has turned back an attempt to kill President Obama's new rules requiring most health insurance plans to provide contraceptives without additional cost.
The 51-48 vote against an amendment to an unrelated highway bill (Yes, that's just how the Senate works) was mostly along party lines.
The resolution asks the federal government to undo a rule requiring insurance companies to provide contraceptives to employees of religious organizations.
House republican leaders say religious liberty is in jeopardy under the federal rule, even though it no longer requires religious organizations to directly pay for contraceptives. House Speaker William O’Brien says the 227-to-121 vote sends the message that either way, the requirement’s intent is simply wrong.
