[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 42 (Thursday, March 13, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Page S1646]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 WOMEN'S ACCESS TO PREVENTIVE SERVICES

  Mr. WYDEN. Madam President, the U.S. Supreme Court will soon hear 
arguments on the Tenth Circuit's overly expansive decision to allow a 
secular, for-profit corporation's owners or shareholders to impose 
their religious beliefs on employees by denying female employees access 
to preventive health care, including insurance coverage for 
contraception.
  As detailed in the amicus brief filed by myself and 18 fellow 
Senators in January, Congress never intended such a broad and 
unprecedented expansion of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, RFRA, 
to deny women access to health care benefits. We urged the Court to 
clarify that RFRA does not allow for-profit companies to deny health 
coverage to employees based on the religious objections of the 
company's owners.
  It should be clear that the Tenth Circuit's decision runs counter to 
a plain-text reading of RFRA and the law's extensive and informative 
legislative history. Congress passed RFRA to advance a single, limited 
purpose: to restore the compelling-interest test to government actions 
that burden the free exercise of religion. But the test only extended 
free-exercise rights only to individuals and religious, non-profit 
organizations. No Supreme Court precedent had extended free-exercise 
rights to secular, for-profit corporations.
  Congress enacted the Affordable Care Act with full understanding of 
RFRA--and of its limited purpose. Congress also recognized the need to 
balance the government's compelling interest in extending women's 
access to preventive health care with respect for the traditional free-
exercise rights of individuals and religious organizations, which is 
why Congress included the Affordable Care Act's religious exemptions 
for individuals and religious organizations. These exemptions strike 
such a balance precisely and accurately, and appropriately recognize 
the free-exercise rights Congress intended for RFRA to protect.
  It's unacceptable and inappropriate for bosses at for-profit 
corporations to pick and choose which health care services their 
employees can receive. So far, 360,000 Oregon women have benefited from 
expanded access to preventive services, including contraceptives. 
Women's health choices should be made between them and their doctors--
not their bosses.

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