Romney Campaign Press Release - Mitt Romney: The White House Has Overstepped Its Bounds and Will Have to Retreat

"When I was governor of my state, the legislature passed a bill saying emergency contraception was going to be provided through Catholic hospitals and other institutions. I vetoed that bill. We have found from liberals across the country, an effort to impose their will on religious organizations and on the population at large, and that is something we have to fight at every turn." — Mitt Romney

"Your World With Neil Cavuto"

FOX News

February 9, 2012

Click Here to See Mitt Romney's Remarks on Religious Liberty

Mitt Romney on Religious Liberty:

Mitt Romney: "The White House has shown its hand already. They began with an assault suggesting that the government should determine who a minister is and not a religion making that choice on their own. The Supreme Court turned them down on that one 9-0. And of course this effort with regards to contraception and the day after pill, and sterilization is an outrageous assault on religious conscience in this country. They've clearly suffered enormously at the hands of not just the people in the Catholic Church who were affected directly but people of all faiths and they're going to have to retreat or suffer enormous consequence and ultimately they will retreat as forced by the Supreme Court or by the next election if they don't retreat now on their own."

Neil Cavuto: "Do you think, governor, that your nearest opponent right now, Rick Santorum, seized on this and maybe built a head of steam on this in Colorado, in Missouri, in Minnesota, not only because he protested this as a Catholic but he has made social conservative issues such a linchpin of his campaign?"

Romney: "I can't tell you Senator Santorum's campaign but I certainly can tell you the assault on religious liberty on this country is an area that has great support and energy and passion behind it. It is something I share. When I was governor of my state, the legislature passed a bill saying emergency contraception was going to be provided through Catholic hospitals and other institutions. I vetoed that bill. We have found from liberals across the country, an effort to impose their will on religious organizations and on the population at large, and that is something we have to fight at every turn."

Cavuto: "Were you surprised, you mentioned liberals, Governor, even there, a good many of them, at least, are taking the administration to task on this?"

Romney: "You know, I am happy to see that individuals recognize that there is more than one part to the First Amendment and that the protection of religious liberty is also there not just the freedom of the press, and, I appreciate the fact that people on both sides of the aisle and even the Supreme Court when it related to determining who was a minister, the liberals on the court sided with the constitution. It's a good sign. I think the administration has way overstepped the bounds here and I think they're going to have to retreat."

Cavuto: "You mention, governor, there is a way to distinguish what you did in Massachusetts with your health care plan and what the administration has been doing nationally with its, and this issue is key. Do you think this is actually giving you a chance to differentiate or no?"

Romney: "There is always an effort on the part of some to confuse and to try and obscure. Actually, the legislation in our state that related to providing contraception and sterilization, those kinds of things, in insurance, occurred before I was governor and my effort as governor was to try and remove those things. I was unsuccessful in removing them. My legislature was 85 percent Democrat. But the White House can't point to my record because this occurred before I became governor and my effort was to get it out of the legislation going forward."

Cavuto: "Are you worried they could come back and say, well, he ended up with a reform effort that was just a mini version of what we did nationally, including this, to some, onerous provision?"

Romney: "And I can just point out, yeah, I fought on every basis I possibly could for life and for religious tolerance and liberty and sometimes I could not win those battles in a legislature that was 85 percent Democrat. This is a president who is promoting the very things I was fighting against. So, he can try and draw the parallel but I can draw my distinction which is I fought against the very things this president is trying to do. I fought successfully in some cases. But in each case I fought for religious liberty and for the respect of individuals making their own choices."