Romney ad: Obama waging ‘war on religion’ (updated) [View all]

[Lucy Goosey]

Last edited Thu Aug 9, 2012, 10:33 AM - Edit history (1)

I think this kind of trash gives us leave to discuss Mitt's religion, no?

Mitt Romney makes an appeal to the Catholic vote with his latest ad, moving away from the economy to talk about health care and contraception.

President Obama has touted newly expanded contraception coverage in ads aimed at women. Now Romney is using the expanded coverage to say the president declared a “war on religion.”

The presumptive Republican nominee’s ad features both former Polish president Lech Walesa and Pope John Paul II — a clear play for the Catholic (and Polish) vote.

Video at link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/romney-obama-waging-war-on-religion/2012/08/09/192c4e02-e213-11e1-a25e-15067bb31849_blog.html

Updated to add this: Think Progress asks a very smart question

Was Romneycare A War On Religion?
As governor, Romney greatly expanded access publicly-financed contraception through his 2006 health care reform law. The state’s Commonwealth Care, established under Romneycare, offers subsidized, low or no-cost insurance to low-income residents and provides primary and preventive care that includes “family planning services” and prescription contraceptives. In 2005, Romney also “signed a bill that could expand the number of people who get family-planning services, including the morning-after pill” and asked the Department of Health and Human Services to require Catholic hospitals to issue the morning after pill to rape victims.

In fact, the Obamacare rule Romney is now characterizing as an affront to religious liberties is very similar to a 2002 state law he tacitly supported. Like more than two dozen states across the country, Massachusetts required insurers that provide outpatient benefits to cover hormone replacement therapy and all FDA-approved contraceptive methods — well before Obamacare became law. The Massachusetts rule exempts “an employer that is a church or qualified church-controlled organization” from the mandate, but prohibits institutions such as hospitals, universities, and nursing homes from deny their employees birth control coverage.

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/08/09/663091/was-romneycare-a-war-on-religion/

The Obama camp needs to use this.