[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 31 (Tuesday, March 5, 2013)]
[House]
[Page H955]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   HEALTH CARE CONSCIENCE RIGHTS ACT

  (Mr. DAINES asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. DAINES. Mr. Speaker, 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.

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