Marco Rubio pushes back at Obama contraception rules under healthcare plan

◼ Sen. Marco Rubio, a Catholic who has always opposed abortion, has emerged as one of the leading national warriors in the politically explosive cultural war over birth control. - Miami Herald

Sitting in his pew at St. Louis Catholic Church in Miami one recent Sunday, Sen. Marco Rubio heard the same homily as other parishioners who were urged by church leaders nationwide to contact Congress about the use of contraceptives.

Uniquely positioned to act, the Republican senator last week filed legislation that would repeal part of President Barack Obama’s healthcare law requiring some religious institutions to offer their employees contraceptives and family planning services as part of their health insurance coverage....

Rubio defended his legislation Friday in an op-ed in the New York Post.

“From a practical standpoint, this will force Catholic organizations to make an unacceptable choice: Ignore a major tenet of their faith, or not provide any insurance to their employees and be punished with a federal fine for violating ObamaCare’s mandate on employers,’’ Rubio wrote. “As Americans, we should all be appalled by an activist government so overbearing and so obsessed with forcing mandates on the American people that it forces such a choice on religious institutions.’’

◼ Obama plays his anti-Catholic card - Hugh Hewitt/Washington Examiner

◼ Obamacare vs. the Catholics, The administration’s breach of faith. - Weekly Standard

◼ The battle is joined on religious liberty - Kathleen Parker/Washington Post Writers Group

At the heart of recent cases is the right to act on one's moral beliefs without fear of intimidation and/or government coercion.

These immediate battles may be about abortion or contraception, but ultimately they are about whether we stand firm on our nation's core beliefs in freedom of conscience and religious liberty. The stakes could not be higher and, though surely political, the endgame shouldn't be about Republican or Democratic war spoils.

The fundamental question is: Who are we? As we individually search for the answer, we know this much: Coercion and intimidation are the tools of mobs and tyrants and have no place in this calculus.

◼ Democrat Party Is Losing Christian Voters in Droves - Obama's attacks on religion is turning away believers. - Jim Hoft/Human Events