Gingrich Campaign Press Release - The Obamney Attack on Religious Liberty

Both Obama and Romney Have Used Government Power to Attack the First Amendment Freedoms of the Catholic Church

Las Vegas, NV — President Obama and Governor Romney have something else in common — they both are responsible for ordering Catholic hospitals (among other religious organizations) to violate their religious beliefs, give up their Catholic identity, or go out of business altogether.

The Obama administration has now finalized a new Obamacare regulation that requires virtually every private employer in the United States, including Catholic hospitals and universities, to provide to their employees without any cost female sterilization procedures and any FDA approved contraception drugs, including abortion-inducing drugs, as part of Obamacare "preventive services for women".

The Obama administration's manifest contempt for the Catholic Church and its First Amendment freedom to carry out its religious mission in accordance with its religious beliefs is the same contempt exhibited by Mitt Romney when he served as Governor of Massachusetts.

"In December 2005, Romney required all Massachusetts hospitals, including Catholic ones, to provide emergency contraception to rape victims, even though some Catholicsview the morning-after pill as a form of abortion."— Boston Globe, February 3, 2012

As reported in the Boston Globe, The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts was recently critical of Romney when he took the opposite position from which he governed.

"The initial injury to Catholic religious freedom came not from the Obama administration but from the Romney administration," said C.J. Doyle, executive director of the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts. "President Obama's plan certainly constitutes an assault on the constitutional rights of Catholics, but I'm not sure Governor Romney is in a position to assert that, given his own very mixed record on this." Boston Globe, February 3, 2012

The Romney campaign has not challenged the 2005 report that Mitt Romney believes in his "heart of hearts" rape victims are entitled to emergency contraception: "My personal view, in my heart of hearts, is that people who are subject to rape should have the option of having emergency contraception or emergency contraception information."

Romney's policy stances are more and more aligning with President Obama. When commenting on the 2012 presidential election, billionaire liberal booster George Soros recently noted, "If it's between Romney and Obama, there isn't all that much difference..." (video)