Ron Paul says Obama regulation to provide free birth control makes ‘mockery’ of religious right

Ron Paul on Thursday slammed President Obama’s move to mandate that healthcare plans include birth control in a list of preventive services that would be covered as free, saying in a news release that the president made a “mockery” of the concerns of Christian conservatives.

“I am deeply troubled by the flippancy with which President Obama recently discussed regulations that are alarming and troublesome for many Americans,” said Rep. Paul (R-Texas). “Not all Americans are comfortable with the Obama administration’s decision to mandate coverage of birth control and morning-after pills, and the considerations of these people, many of them Christian conservatives, are worthy of careful consideration — not mockery.”

Late last month, a coalition of Catholic colleges and universities asked the administration to repeal the decision, or create an exemption for religiously affiliated healthcare providers. Though the bill includes an exception for “religious institutions that offer insurance to their employees,” Catholic groups have said that the provision does not allow enough leeway.

Paul, who unlike many other libertarians is not pro-choice, accused the president of instituting the regulation as a kickback to political supporters.

“Many, like me, view this rigid regulatory overstep from which there is inadequate opportunity to self-exempt as payback to Planned Parenthood and big pharmaceutical companies for their support of Obamacare,” Paul said. “Many others oppose it out of strict moral conviction, and their voices should be heard at least to the extent that an authentic opportunity to exempt be provided.”

But Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Thursday that Democrats are fighting a “war” for women’s health services.

“They don’t just want to go after the last 18 months, they want to roll back the last 50 years in progress women have made in comprehensive healthcare in America,” Sebelius said of the mandate’s opponents at an NARAL Pro-Choice America luncheon. “We’ve come a long way in women’s health over the last few decades, but we are in a war.”

Sebelius said the regulations are necessary, considering that insurance companies had previously categorized “Viagra an essential medication and birth control a lifestyle choice.”

But Paul said the federal government should have no role in family planning services.

“As president, I plan to defund Obamacare and all federal programs that use tax money taken from the American people to promote abortion and provide abortion services domestically and globally,” Paul said. “I pledge also to veto any bill with funding for Planned Parenthood or any other international family planning regimes.”

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