Steve Daines: “Our Founders believed that conscience and religious rights occupied the highest rung on the civil liberty protection…”

“Our Founders believed that conscience and religious rights occupied the highest rung on the civil liberty protection ladder. The Obama administration has fallen short of these expectations. As a fifth-generation Montanan and a person of faith, I know that my faith does not begin and end at the doors of our church. Living the principles of what I believe is a key part of my faith. But under the Affordable Care Act, religious institutions and employers, as well as health care providers who hold religious and moral convictions, are stripped of their religious freedoms. Religious institutions and employers are forced to pay for coverage of contraceptive methods. Health care providers do not have the protection to refuse to perform abortion services that they are morally opposed to. That is a violation of the First Amendment. That is why I am proud to help introduce the Health Care Conscience Rights Act, which will uphold our constitutional rights of religious freedom and uphold our moral calling to practice life-affirming health care. ____________________”