Democratic Bill Would Grant Executive Power to Deny

Posted: Jul 11, 2014

Synagogues, and Mosques. Most houses of worship have been granted a full exemption from Obamacare's regulation mandating coverage of contraception and abortifacients, but Ed Whelan points out that new legislation unveiled by Senate Democrats yesterday could put that religious protection in jeopardy. Although "bill itself wouldn’t abolish the exemption," Whelan writes, it "would allow the Obama administration (or its successors) to abolish the exemption and the accommodation in their entirety. (If the bill were instead intended to preserve the exemption and the accommodation against regulatory abolition, it would be a fairly simple matter to say so clearly.)" The Senate Democrats' bill denies any employer the right to defend itself under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act if the employer objects to any federal health benefits mandate. There is no language in Obamacare stopping the executive branch from including services such as elective surgical abortions in the list of "preventive services" that must be covered with no copayment for beneficiaries. ;