US Senate GOP Blocks Democrats’ Birth Control Bill
Legislation is in response to last month’s Supreme Court ruling on Hobby Lobby case.
Senate Republicans on Wednesday blocked a bill that would “require companies to offer birth control coverage in staff health plans.”
According to The Hill, “Democrats had moved the legislation as a response to last month’s Supreme Court ruling rejecting the healthcare law’s mandate that employers include coverage for birth control in their employee health plans.”
Three Republicans voted with Democrats, “but the bill still failed to advance in a 56-43 vote. Sixty votes were required to move forward.”
Hawaii’s Mazie Hirono voted with her fellow Democrats.
She and other supporters of the bill from Sens. Patty Murray (D-WA) and Mark Udall (D-CO.) — including President Barack Obama — have been tweeting out the #NotMyBossBusiness hashtag.
“The U.S. Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby decision opened the door to unprecedented corporate intrusion into our private lives. Coloradans understand that women should never have to ask their bosses for a permission slip to access common forms of birth control or other critical health services,” Udall said when the bill was introduced earlier this month.
Udall continued: “My common-sense proposal will keep women’s private health decisions out of corporate board rooms, because your boss shouldn’t be able to dictate what is best for you and your family.”
Hawaii’s other senator, Brian Schatz, did not vote. He is campaigning in Hawaii, as is his opponent, U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa.
