Blunt Talk on the Blunt Amendment

CORE MESSAGE

Corporations have no business telling parents when and how many kids to have.

Connect: Religious liberty and women's health are both core American values that needn't be pitted against each other.

Explain: Under Obama's policy, women will get access to free birth control no matter where they work and no religious organization will be required to pay for it.

Define: Yet Republicans are actually proposing that any corporation should be able to deny any health service -- whether contraception or any other basic care -- to anyone who works for them for any reason.

Expose: They were called out for targeting women and contraception -- so now they're trying to do the same thing by targeting working women AND men's access to virtually ANY health care.

We have a choice: We can respect both religious liberty and women's health OR start letting corporations prevent parents from deciding when and how many kids to have.

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ATTACKS AND RESPONSES

ATTACK: "Obama's policy still forces religious charities and hospitals to violate their religious beliefs."
RESPONSE:

• If this was true, why would Catholic Hospitals and universities and a wide range of Catholic, evangelical and mainline religious leaders support the President's policy?
• President Obama listened to both sides and found a solution that works. No religious organization will be required to pay for, refer for, or even have any involvement in covering contraception for the women they hire.

ATTACK: "Obama's policy is an assault on our Constitutional protection of religious freedom."
RESPONSE:

• If the President's political opponents really cared about faith, they'd listen to the religious institutions they claim to be concerned about, like Catholic Hospitals, that support the policy solution.
• Washington Republicans are actually proposing that any corporation should be able to deny any health service -- whether birth control, cancer tests, or any other care -- to anyone who works for them.
• That's an ideological agenda that undermines the values and priorities of every major religious group in America that has fought for decades to expand access to health care.

EYE ON THE RIGHT

Limbaugh: Student Denied Spot At Contraception Hearing Says "She Must Be Paid To Have Sex," So She's A "Slut" And "Prostitute"

Regular Fox Guest Bill Donohue Calls Student Advocating For Contraception Coverage A "Little Brat"

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

• Last year alone, 54 million Americans with private health insurance, including 20 million women, took advantage of the new health law's prevention benefits -- and it's these health care services that would be put at risk by the Blunt Amendment.
• All churches and houses of worship are, and have always been, exempt from covering contraception under the Affordable Care Act.
• The President recently responded to concerns by religious-affiliated institutions, like Catholic Charities, by shifting the obligation to cover birth control to insurance companies so those institutions won't have to.
• Religious institutions that are supportive of the President's updated contraception policy include Catholic Hospitals, Catholics United, Univ. of Notre Dame, the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities, Leadership Conference of Women Religious, Sisters of Mercy, NETWORK, and a wide range of Catholic, evangelical and mainline faith leaders.
• So are most Americans -- including Catholic voters.
• Nearly 99 percent of women have relied on contraception in their lives, but more than half of women between 18 and 34 years old have struggled to afford it.

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