{"id":96485,"date":"2016-06-21T19:34:56","date_gmt":"2016-06-21T23:34:56","guid":{"rendered":"\/news\/?p=96485"},"modified":"2016-06-22T13:34:40","modified_gmt":"2016-06-22T17:34:40","slug":"obama-administration-refuses-to-stop-california-from-forcing-churches-to-pay-for-abortion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/obama-administration-refuses-to-stop-california-from-forcing-churches-to-pay-for-abortion\/","title":{"rendered":"Obama administration refuses to stop California from forcing churches to pay for abortion"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

Alliance Defending Freedom and New Jersey Republican Congressman Chris Smith are calling out the Obama Administration for its latest rationale against protecting the conscience rights of pro-life Americans.<\/p>\n

For almost two years, California has forced churches and religious organizations to cover abortions in their health insurance plans. Several of the affected groups have filed complaints with the Health and Human Service Department\u2019s Office of Civil Rights, arguing that the state was violating the Weldon Amendment, annual appropriations language forbidding discrimination against entities that choose not to participate in abortion.<\/p>\n

However, on Tuesday OCR Director Jocelyn Samuels responded to the complaints with a letter<\/a> declaring her office found no violation of the Weldon Amendment and “is closing this matter without further action.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Congressional Pro-Life Caucus\u2019 Megan McCrum notes in an email to Live Action News that the determination is based on a \u201cflawed reading of the Weldon Amendment\u201d as only protecting insurance plans and not the plans\u2019 purchasers.<\/p>\n

Smith, who responded<\/a> to the Obama administration’s decision, called on Congress to take action.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis decision illustrates the far reaches of Obama\u2019s radical pro-abortion ideology \u2013 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,\u201d Smith\u00a0said.<\/p>\n

He urged Congress to \u201ctake this issue out of the hands of the Obama Administration by moving enforcement of current conscience protections to the courts\u201d and \u201cenact legislation so churches and other victims have a \u2018private right of action\u2019 so they can have their day in court.\u201d<\/p>\n

ADF Senior Counsel Casey Mattox also reacted<\/a>, blasting the Obama administration for \u201conce again making a mockery of the law, and this time in the most unimaginable way.”<\/p>\n

“The Obama Administration\u2019s 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,\u201d\u00a0Mattox said.<\/p>\n

ADF and Life Legal Defense Foundation represented the objecting religious groups in their original complaints.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alliance Defending Freedom and New Jersey Republican Congressman Chris Smith are calling out the Obama Administration for its latest rationale against protecting the conscience rights of pro-life Americans. For almost two years, California has forced churches and religious organizations to cover abortions in their health insurance plans. Several of the affected groups have filed complaints […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":96492,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[3473],"tags":[2978,20,455,7135,87,6525,278],"yoast_head":"\nObama administration refuses to stop California from forcing churches to pay for abortions<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Obama administration declared it \u201cfound no violation of the Weldon Amendment and is closing this matter without further action.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/obama-administration-refuses-to-stop-california-from-forcing-churches-to-pay-for-abortion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Obama administration refuses to stop California from forcing churches to pay for abortions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Obama administration declared it \u201cfound no violation of the Weldon Amendment and is closing this matter without further action.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/obama-administration-refuses-to-stop-california-from-forcing-churches-to-pay-for-abortion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-06-21T23:34:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-06-22T17:34:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/abortion-crosses-Nagel-Photography-Shutterstock.com_-700x467.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"467\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Calvin Freiburger\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Obama administration refuses to stop California from forcing churches to pay for abortion\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"ADF and Rep. Chris Smith are calling out the Obama Administration for its latest rationale against protecting the conscience rights of pro-life Americans.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.www.liveactionnews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/abortion-crosses-Nagel-Photography-Shutterstock.com_.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Calvin Freiburger\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" 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