President Obama’s health insurance mandate has produced significant outrage in Pennsylvania, and while the White House prepares to announce a potential “accommodation” on this issue, that doesn’t remedy the President’s original attempt to undermine the Bill of Rights.

Let’s also remember that Senator Bob Casey, who voted for ObamaCare, is responsible for opening the doorway to this problem and shoving Pennsylvanians through it.

Obamacare Backer Bob Casey Sees What He’s Done

Pennsylvania Democratic senator Bob Casey, back on December 7, 2009:

“I want to get health-care legislation passed. No one in the Senate has worked harder than I have to get this done, and we will get it done.”

Casey on February 8, 2012:

“It’s a question of whether or not we’re going to allow — as we should — an institution that has a religious mission to make decisions that are consistent with their faith tradition,” Casey said.

“Unfortunately what this does is impose upon them rules that I don’t think we should impose upon an institution that has a faith mission.”

Casey has written to Obama asking him to reverse HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius’s decision.

Too bad that in all that hard work, Casey didn’t ensure the bill would not authorize the Department of Health and Human Services to impose these sorts of rules.

(Geraghty, Jim. Obamacare Backer Bob Casey Sees What He’s Done. National Review. February 8, 2012.)

ObamaCare’s Great Awakening: HHS tells religious believers to go to hell. The public notices

The political furor over President Obama’s birth-control mandate continues to grow, even among those for whom contraception poses no moral qualms, and one needn’t be a theologian to understand why. The country is being exposed to the raw political control that is the core of the Obama health-care plan, and Americans are seeing clearly for the first time how this will violate pluralism and liberty.

(ObamaCare’s Great Awakening. Wall Street Journal. February 8, 2012.)

Pennsylvania Catholic Conference: TAKE ACTION: HHS Mandate

The Catholic bishops of the United States called the decision by the Obama Administration to continue to demand that sterilization, abortion-causing drugs and contraception be included in virtually all health plans “literally unconscionable”. This announcement means that this mandate and its very narrow exemption will not change at all; instead there will only be a delay in enforcement against some employers.

(Pennsylvania Catholic Conference. Accessed February 10, 2012.)

Allentown Catholic Diocese joins outcry against Obamacare mandate on contraception

Bishops say rule violates conscience and First Amendment.

“Religious liberty is in the DNA of all Americans,” Barres said Tuesday. “This is not just a religious issue; it’s a broad American issue. The right to exercise religious belief free of government interference is the very first right mentioned in the Bill of Rights.”

(Sheehan, Daniel Patrick. Allentown Catholic Diocese joins outcry against Obamacare mandate on contraception The Morning Call Daniel. February 9, 2012)

Diocese of Harrisburg upset about birth control mandate

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg is upset with the federal government’s recent decision requiring church-affiliated institutions to cover free birth control for employees. Bishops across the country said the decision violates religious freedom. Many wrote letters to parishioners that were read by priests at Mass on Sunday. The bishop of Pittsburgh said the government is telling Catholics, “to Hell with you.”

(Gnoza, Al. Diocese of Harrisburg upset about birth control mandate. ABC News. January 31, 2012.)

Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg: Cardinal-designate Dolan Sharply Criticizes HHS Mandate

Efforts by the bishops to secure conscience exemptions were disregarded. As a result, unless the rule is overturned, we Catholics will be compelled to violate our consciences. We cannot – we will not – comply with this unjust law.

(Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg. Accessed February 10, 2012.)

Catholic Diocese of Erie: The HHS mandate: An attack on rights of conscience

The Diocese of Erie is working closely with the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to participate in coordinated efforts to oppose this ruling.

(Roman Catholic Diocese of Erie. Accessed February 10, 2012)

Diocese of Scranton: Bishop Warns of Threat to Religious Liberty

I write to you concerning an alarming and serious matter that negatively impacts the Church in the United States and in the Diocese of Scranton. This matter strikes at the fundamental right to religious liberty for all citizens of any faith. The federal government, which claims to be “of, by, and for the people,” has just dealt a heavy blow to almost a quarter of those people—the Catholic population—and to the millions more who are served by the Catholic faithful.

(Roman Catholic Diocese of Scranton. Accessed February 10, 2012.)

Pittsburgh Bishop Zubik: ‘To Hell’ With New Contraception Rules

Pittsburgh Catholic Bishop David Zubik Friday joined a growing segment of religious leaders speaking out against the Obama administration’s new law that requires religious employers to offer health plans covering free contraceptives. In an open letter titled “To Hell With You,” Zubik on Friday characterized some of the mandates in the administration’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act as a “slap in the face” and an attack on religious freedom. Zubik specifcally refers to guidelines that require all individual and group health insurance plans, including self-insured plans, to cover FDA-approved contraception, sterilization procedures and pharmaceuticals “that even result in abortion,”  Zubik writes. “The Obama administration has just told the Catholics of the United States, “To Hell with you!”  There is no other way to put it,” Zubik wrote in the letter posted on the Pittsburgh Diocese website.

(Dudkiewicz, Larissa. Pittsburgh Bishop Zubik: ‘To Hell’ With New Contraception Rules. Cranberry Patch. Accessed February 10, 2012.)

RNC Messaging Memo Re: Obama’s Attack On Religious Freedom. UPDATE: While the White House announced a potential “accommodation” after being surprised by the outrage over this issue, early reports suggest President Obama is likely to ride the fence and attempt to play both sides. It’s a dangerous game when dealing with a fundamental American right protected by the Constitution such as religious freedom. Barack Obama’s new health insurance mandate is a direct attack on the Constitution and freedom of religion. The White House will try to spin otherwise, but that doesn’t change the central issue: the president does not have the power to undermine the Bill of Rights. Our message is principled and rooted in the Constitution. No American should be forced to violate his or her religious beliefs at the whim of the White House. No religious organization should be forced to violate tenets of its faith. Obama clearly disagrees. For him, a government takeover of healthcare is more important than the Bill of Rights. In pursuit of his big government agenda, he is willing to bully religious organizations and trample on constitutional freedoms. On GOP.com: http://bit.ly/w4S1m6

Analysis: Obama contraceptive mandate has a price

However, the contraceptive mandate has infuriated many Catholics regardless of political ideology because it could potentially damage what they consider the pride of their church: the multibillion-dollar Catholic-run network of hospitals, schools, colleges, homeless shelters and food pantries that mostly employ and serve members of other faiths. The Health and Human Services regulation includes an exemption only for religious groups who primarily serve and employ members of their own faith. Noncompliance is punishable by fines that could bring financial ruin. The option of self-insurance, a common religious exemption in state mandates for birth control coverage, is not available under the federal health care law. “I don’t think this is the president’s best judgment,” said Douglas Kmiec, a prominent conservative legal scholar and Catholic who has been excoriated by bishops and conservative activists for backing Obama, starting four years ago. “I’ve got a great deal of concern that he has caused for himself an enormous problem with my fellow Catholics that he didn’t need and that will indeed place his re-election in jeopardy.”

(Zoll, Rachel. Analysis: Obama contraceptive mandate has a price. Associated Press. February 9, 2012.)

Catholics protest ruling that health plans must cover birth control

Catholic leaders are outraged over a recent decision by the Obama administration that would require Catholic-affiliated institutions to cover contraceptives and sterilization in their employee health care plans — a rule they say would violate one of their core beliefs. The government’s move will affect thousands of people who work for 210 Catholic-related institutions in metro Detroit such as social service centers, schools and hospitals. The institutions currently don’t pay for contraceptives or sterilization.

(Catholics protest ruling that health plans must cover birth control. Detroit Free Press. February 6, 2012.)

Catholic nun pleads with Biden to ‘fix’ contraception ruling

Reports that Vice President Joe Biden privately warned President Obama not to make a controversial decision to force religious employers to cover contraception services could be a potential problem for the administration, with religious groups amping up the pressure on Biden to help change the president’s mind. In the Columbus Dispatch this morning, in advance of a Biden visit, one Catholic nun and CEO of a Catholic health care service pleads with Biden to help reverse the ruling: “I ask the vice president to help Catholic and other faith-based employers with a recent federal action. We are very disappointed with the Health and Human Services rule on women’s preventive services that requires the inclusion of contraceptive coverage and sterilization in employer-based employee-benefits plans. The regulation denies adequate conscience protections for religious employers like us.”

(Tau, Byron. Catholic nun pleads with Biden to ‘fix’ contraception ruling. Politico. February 9, 2012.)

Obama Admin Struggles To Contain Uproar Over First Amendment Overreach

The White House struggled Wednesday to contain the growing uproar over its birth-control mandate, with Democrats peeling off one by one in what has become an increasingly divisive election-year controversy. Pressure to roll back the new contraception policy mounted quickly as the day wore on, driven by divisions among Democrats, mixed messages from President Obama’s advisers and a constant drumbeat from the GOP. ‘It’s becoming a thorny problem for the White House and it appears to only be getting worse,’ said one Democratic strategist.”

(Amie Parnes and Sam Baker, “Obama administration struggles to contain uproar over birth-control rule,” The Hill, 02/08/2012)

Liberal Catholics Who Supported Obamacare Now Upset

“Without former Michigan Democratic Rep. Bart Stupak, President Barack Obama wouldn’t have gotten his health care overhaul in 2010 passed through Congress. But Stupak, a pro-life Catholic who voted for the health care reform after being promised that federal dollars wouldn’t fund abortions, now isn’t happy with Obama.”

(Alex Pappas, “Liberal Catholics who supported Obamacare now upset over contraceptives,” Daily Caller, 02/08/2012)