Coats: birth control mandate radical

WASHINGTON, D.C. (WANE) - Senator Dan Coats (R-Ind.) on Tuesday used strong language in denouncing a controversial mandate recently announced by the Obama administration.

Coats called on President Barack Obama to rescind his administration’s ruling under the health care reform law requiring church-affiliated organizations, charities, hospitals and educational institutions to provide and pay for insurance coverage that includes contraceptives and abortion-inducing drugs despite moral objections. 

In a speech on the Senate floor, Coats said, “I call on President Obama to overturn his radical and unconstitutional mandate that is a fundamental breach of First Amendment rights and religious liberty.”

“This issue is not a debate over whether the use of contraceptives is right or wrong," Coats continued. “This is a debate over whether Congress is going to sit idly by and watch the administration walk all over the freedom of religion, a core American principle or stand up and protect what our founding fathers put their lives on the line for and what millions of Americans defend each day.”

Coats is a co-sponsor of the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act, legislation that would protect health care providers, insurers, and purchasers from being forced to violate their ethical principles to cover or fund products and services under the health care reform law.