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Brown supports limiting health coverage on moral grounds

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February 15, 2012|By Tracy Jan

Senator Scott Brown is co-sponsoring a bill that would allow employers… (Jacquelyn Martin/AP/File )

WASHINGTON — Senator Scott Brown, entering a political thicket pitting women’s reproductive rights against beliefs of some religious institutions, is cosponsoring a bill that would allow employers and insurers to limit specific health care coverage, including contraception, based on religious or moral objections.

Brown last week became one of 37 senators, nearly all Republicans, who have signed on to support the bill introduced by Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri. The bill has gained momentum following the uproar surrounding President Obama’s January announcement that universities and hospitals affiliated with the Catholic Church and other religious groups need to provide contraception as part of their employee health coverage.

The president, in a compromise, has since agreed to exempt the organizations as long as insurers provide the coverage.

Brown, however, said he does not believe the revised requirement goes far enough to protect religious liberty.

“This issue deals with one of our most fundamental rights as a people — the freedom of religion,’’ Brown, who faces a difficult reelection battle this fall against Democrat Elizabeth Warren, said yesterday. “No one should be forced by government to do something that violates the teachings of their faith.’’

Massachusetts advocates for women’s health pounced on the decision by Brown, who had voted to support contraception coverage when he was a state representative in 2002.

“It’s shocking that we’re having these debates about contraception in 2012, but this bill goes way beyond that, saying employers and health plans don’t have to provide coverage for any service they have a moral objection to,’’ said Dianne Luby, president of Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts. “That can be in-vitro fertilization, HIV/AIDS testing, it could be anything.’’

Warren and other Democrats denounced the bill as a wholesale attack on health care that goes far beyond the controversy surrounding contraceptive coverage and religious freedom.

“It’s an assault on every family in Massachusetts,’’ Warren said in a phone interview. “It’s an extreme attack that opens the door to outright discrimination. I’m shocked that Senator Brown is cosponsoring this amendment. This would mean no one could count on basic health coverage.’’

Brown’s campaign responded by positioning Warren against working-class Catholics.

“It’s elitist for Elizabeth Warren to dictate to religious people about what they should believe and how they should act,’’ said Colin Reed, a spokesman for the Brown campaign. “She wants to use the power of government to force Catholics to violate the teachings of their faith.’’