Opponents to the Obama administration’s new contraception rule went to the morning shows to lambaste the president on what they call a clear violation of freedom of religion.
Two of those opponents—Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.—are sponsoring a bill that will repeal the new rule. They said the bill is not about whether contraception should be used, but about whether the federal government should force organizations to pay for it.
“If there's a religiously affiliated organization and the religion they're affiliated with specifically teaches that contraception is wrong, the federal government shouldn't have the power to go in and require them to have to pay for it,” Rubio said on MSNBC’s Daily Rundown. “So my hope is we didn't need the legislation.”
Manchin joins other Democrats, like Sen. Bob Casey, of Pennsylvania, in his opposition of the new rule. He said West Virginia has an exemption for religious organizations that he would like implemented at the federal level.
“We haven't had any pushback whatsoever,” Manchin said. “I've not had any phone calls from constituents working in religious organization or hospitals. So, I don't know why we made a problem something that wasn't a problem.”
One of the backers of Rubio and Manchin’s bill is Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla. A doctor, he said the government already has programs that provide birth control at the county level. He said the issue goes deeper than just providing birth control to women.
“It's not that it's not available; it's that we're wanting to make a change in mandates,” the Oklahoma Republican said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe. “We already have programs available for anybody who can't get birth control to get it. They can get it. It's what we're doing now is saying here's what you must do even if it violates your religious principles.”
Much of the fallout for the Obama administration’s new rule comes from the Catholic Church. New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said he is now "skeptical" of President Obama’s relationship with the Catholic Church after the administration’s recent controversial rule on contraception.
President Obama told Dolan of the administration’s decision on Jan. 20, which was met by “disappointment” and “disapproval.” Dolan said on CBS's This Morning the president’s new decision puts us “loggerheads in noble endeavors where we should be cooperating and in friendship.”
“I'm skeptical,” Dolan said. “We can’t compromise on principal. It seems to be clear now that this was a terribly misguided judgment.”
Dolan said he has not reached out to the president since the decision, but implored the president to rethink his position and “go back to the starting line.”
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