Your conscience freedom is at stake

The Department of Health and Human services will soon decide whether Americans will be forced to pay for “free” abortion-inducing contraceptives as part of Obama's healthcare overhaul. If approved, public health programs and private insurance companies will be required to cover the contraceptives without charging a co-pay. The full cost would be passed on to taxpayers and private insurance beneficiaries, regardless of the payer's moral opposition. Such a move would violate Americans' freedom of conscience.

The Institute of Medicine, a healthcare panel tasked by the Obama Administration to recommend preventative care measures for American women, made the proposal last week. It recommended providing, at no cost, “the full range of Food and Drug Administration-approved contraceptive methods, sterilization procedures, and patient education and counseling for all women with reproductive capacity.”

The no-cost contraceptives would include potentially abortifacient oral contraceptives and intrauterine devices (IUDs), as well as controversial “emergency contraception”, such as Plan B and Ella. All of these contraceptives, if unable to block ovulation, terminate a pregnancy by preventing a fertilized egg from attaching itself to the womb, killing it. Plan B and Ella, however, are the only methods that can be taken after unprotected sex.

The Department of Health and Human Services, headed by pro-abortion Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, is considering the panel's recommendation and will make a final decision by August 1.

Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice America have applauded the recommendation. Their support is no doubt part of a strategy to change public policy to fully fund abortion as preventative care, and they have no better ally in that fight than Secretary Sebelius.

Sebelius has a solid anti-life record as two-term Kansas governor from 2003-2009, vetoing every piece of pro-life legislation that crossed her desk, including legislation that would have tightened restrictions on late-term abortion.