Romney Campaign Press Release - Mitt Romney: I Will End the Attack on Religion and Conscience in This Country

"You've got a president who has launched an assault on religious conviction. I find it extraordinary that he feels he can tell the Catholic Church what they have to provide for their employees, including devices and instruments they find contrary to their conscience. ... There's been an attack launched on religion in this country and on conscience in this country and if I'm president that will end. — Mitt Romney

Town Hall Meeting

Portland, Maine

February 10, 2012

Click HERE to See the Video

MITT ROMNEY: "There are other differences. You've got a president who has launched an assault on religious conviction. I find it extraordinary that he feels he can tell the Catholic Church what they have to provide for their employees, including devices and instruments they find contrary to their conscience. And today he did the classic Obama retreat, alright? And what I mean by that is it wasn't a retreat at all. It's another deception. And what he said was okay, the Catholic Church doesn't have to buy policies that provide for sterilization and for the morning-after pill and for contraceptives, instead, they need to buy a policy and the company will just give them those things for free. I mean this is the idea that companies when they're given an additional burden somehow don't pass that on to their customer. Of course they do. It's the same thing that happened with the rest of Obamacare when he said oh, we're not going to tax individuals, we're just going to tax the companies that provide medical devices to individuals. Well of course that gets passed on to the individual. Companies consist of people and someone has to pay: the owners, the employees, or the customers—and they pass those costs onto customers. When the President says, deceptively, oh the Catholic Church won't have to buy policies that include these things the insurance companies will just throw them in for free. It's just disingenuous and deceptive and the American people have to see through it. There's been an attack launched on religion in this country and on conscience in this country and if I'm president that will end. And by the way just stepping back on that Obamacare thing for a moment, the idea that the federal government is going to tell all the states how your healthcare has to work. And frankly it's going to end up telling all the people what kind of health insurance they can have. That's simply something which is unacceptable; it's something that we can't afford..."

(INAUDIBLE HECKLER)

ROMNEY: "Well I'm glad you think so but why don't you wait until we get to questions and I'll respond to your question. And so my view is..."

(APPLAUSE)

ROMNEY: "The right course is for each state to be able to craft its own solution for its own needs. And by the way, if you like what he has, go vote for him. And if you don't want to have Obamacare, vote for me. I will repeal it."