Political Quotes

“Mr. President, the amendment we are considering today represents a direct assault on access to preventive health care services for millions of women in this country. The ostensible purpose of this proposal is to protect the rights of conscience of any employer or healthcare insurer, religious or secular, who may have a religious or moral objection to providing family planning services free of charge to their employees. I respect and will defend the moral values of employers and insurance companies. But I also respect the moral values of people who need medical services. So we will end up deciding whether or not to deny access to critical and possibly lifesaving health services for millions of people in this country, not whose religious or moral values have precedence. As drafted, Senator Blunt's amendment would grant employers and health insurance companies the power to deny access to not just preventive healthcare services for women, but any healthcare service, for anyone, regardless of its nature. This means any employer could choose to deny employees insurance coverage for such things as children's immunizations; mammograms; lifesaving cancer treatments; or blood transfusions simply because that employer may find these or any other healthcare services morally objectionable. For the Senate to pass such a policy would be indefensible.…”