NJ Lawmaker: Obama Admin. 'Forcing' Churches to Pay for Abortion

The Obama administration outraged lawmakers and conservative groups this week by issuing a ruling they say requires California churches to pay for abortions.

"This decision illustrates the far reaches of Obama's radical pro-abortion ideology - forcing churches and communities of faith that have pro-life convictions to participate in and pay for a practice that dismembers and chemically poisons unborn children," Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., said.

In its decision, the federal government said the state did not violate a religious freedom law, the Weldon Amendment, when it required health insurance companies to cover the cost of elective abortions.

Jocelyn Samuels, head of the HHS Office for Civil Rights, said California acted within the law because the Weldon Amendment applied to insurance companies, not to employers that morally oppose abortion.

Smith, who is the co-chair of the bipartisan Congressional Pro-Life Caucus, strongly disagreed.

"Nearly two years after California imposed its draconian mandate that requires all insurance companies to pay for abortion, the Obama administration has reached a new low -- reinterpreting the Weldon Amendment to allow the mandate to continue," Smith said. "This means that Californians, including churches, will continue to be forced to pay for elective abortions in their insurance plans."

"The Weldon Amendment - named for the Florida Congressman Dave Weldon who authored it - has been renewed and signed into law annually, including by President Obama," Smith continued. "The Weldon Amendment protects against state-imposed abortion mandates. But Obama's Administration has again shown blatant disregard for the rule of law."

Smith is calling on Congress to overturn the Obama administration ruling. He wants enforcement of current conscience protections to be moved to the courts.

"Congress needs to enact legislation so churches and other victims have a 'private right of action' so they can have their day in court," he said.

Rep. John Fleming, R-La., said lawmakers need to act now. 

"Today's decision, now perhaps more than ever, reveals why this Congress must act immediately to pass my bill, H.R. 4828, Conscience Protection Act," Fleming said. "The legislation would codify the Weldon Amendment and allow citizens affected by this HHS decision a right of action, to petition the courts for a redress of grievances."

"This administration is hell-bent on forcing Americans to accept, without recourse, their worldview and it is time to push back on these brazen attacks to liberty," he continued.

Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Casey Mattox also condemned the decision.

"The Obama administration is once again making a mockery of the law, and this time in the most unimaginable way," Mattox said in a statement. "Churches should never be forced to cover elective abortion in their insurance plans, and for 10 years the Weldon Amendment has protected the right to have plans that do not include coverage for abortion-on-demand."

"But the state of California has ordered every insurer, even those insuring churches, to cover elective abortions in blatant violation of the law," he continued. "The Obama Administration's refusal to enforce this law continues its pattern of enforcing laws it wants to enforce, refusing to enforce others, and inventing new interpretations of others out of whole cloth."

"We will continue to defend churches from this clear violation of the First Amendment and federal law and call on Congress to hold the Department of Health and Human Services accountable," Mattox said.