March for Life

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March for Life Responds to GAO Report

This week the non-partisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report confirming what pro-lifers have been warning since 2010, your tax dollars are funding abortion through the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”).

Today, the March for Life participated in a press conference calling attention to this broken promise and calling on the Senate to act. Read Jeanne Monahan’s remarks below:

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Thank you to Mr. Pitts for sponsoring this important press conference and to all of the Members for taking time during such a full moment to discuss this critical report.

We probably all remember well the March of 2010 when the entire passage of healthcare law hinged on abortion coverage and support. The bottom line was that if abortion was included in the healthcare law, it wouldn’t get the support it needed in Congress to pass. In those intense days President Obama promised that abortion coverage would not be included in the healthcare law. He even went so far as to imply that Hyde protections — the established pro-life protections since the late 70s would remain status quo in the law.

Today we stand here to say that nothing could be further from the truth.  We have known that but for those who were confused by the 1000+ pages in the bill and the very confusing rollout of this law, please read this GAO report and take it to heart. There is without a doubt abortion in the healthcare law. This report is about the state exchanges, but abortion is included in other ways. The largest expansion of abortion since Roe vs Wade.

For example, consider the HHS mandate forcing groups like the MfL to cover drugs and devices that can destroy life in its earliest stages. The March for Life is a non-religious, non-partisan, non-profit organization dedicated solely to protecting human life in its most vulnerable stages. But because of the healthcare law we are being forced to cover abortifacients in our healthcare. We refuse to do that. And so we are now engaged in litigation fighting this injustice.

This summer the SCOTUS showed us that America still has all three branches keeping each other in check. With that hope we ask you to call your Senator to ask them to support HR7 and right the wrong of the Obama Administration and their broken promises. 

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March for Life Files Lawsuit Against HHS Mandate

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 8, 2014

CONTACT: Ann Conant

March for Life Education and Defense Fund

202.234.3300

annconant@marchforlife.org

* * MEDIA ADVISORY * *

March for Life Files Lawsuit Against HHS Mandate

WASHINGTON – The March for Life Education and Defense Fund filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against the Obama administration’s HHS mandate through the legal firm, Alliance Defending Freedom. The March for Life is a non-profit, non-sectarian organization dedicated to protecting nascent human life from the moment of fertilization/conception, most notably through its annual march every January in the nation’s capital.  This lawsuit is the latest case by a non-profit organization to challenge the mandate since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against it last month on behalf of two for-profit family businesses in Conestoga Wood Specialties v. Burwell and Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores.

The mandate forces employers, regardless of their religious or moral convictions, to provide insurance coverage for abortion-inducing drugs, sterilization, and contraception under threat of heavy financial penalties through the IRS.

March for Life President had this to say about the case: “The March for Life Education and Defense Fund was founded to protect nascent life in the womb. Our organization must be free to operate according to this belief. The government should not be allowed to force us to pay for insurance coverage that covers drugs and devices that can cause an abortion.”

For further information, please contact Ann Conant with March for Life at 202.234.3300.

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Hobby Lobby Victory!

On Monday, June 30, the Supreme Court released its decision in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. and Conestoga Specialties Wood Corp. v. Burwell.  The court ruled in a 5-4 decision that the Health and Human Services contraceptive mandate – which the Green and Hahn families opposed because it forced them to provide access to 4 drugs and devices that can end life at its earliest stage – imposed an undue burden on the religious freedom of these family businesses, under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA).  

A human embryo, small and fragile though it may be, is a human life that the March for Life seeks to protect.  Nothing is more important than that!  That’s why the Hobby Lobby case matters.  This mandate forces organizations to cover drugs and devices that destroy precious human life in its most fragile stages.  

The March for Life was at the court all morning awaiting the decision.  Here are pictures from the rally and press conference, as well as remarks from Jeanne Monahan.

 

Unfortunately, a great deal of misinformation from pro-abortion forces has followed the court’s decision, especially in regards to why the Green and Hahn families opposed certain abortifacients.  National Review Online published a piece from Jeanne Monahan entitled “Abortion Advocates Downplaying the Science of Abortifacients.”  Below is a segment of her article:

There is a world of difference between a drug that prevents life and a drug that can destroy life in its earliest and most vulnerable stages. The HHS mandate and the Supreme Court’s decision in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby provide an excellent opportunity to educate the public about such life-destructive drugs and devices. Women deserve the right to know how they work upon their bodies and the nascent life in their wombs. 

For a recap of the genesis of the HHS mandate, and for reactions from lawmakers and other interested parties, check out Tom McClusky’s blog post:  

The HHS mandate comes from a provision in President Obama’s health care law, commonly called “Obamacare.”   This provision requires all employers who offer health insurance to include coverage for “preventive services”.   The term “preventive services” was then defined by pro-abortion Obama Administration to mean contraceptive drugs and devices, including so-called emergency contraception, some of which can cause abortions.  In addition sterilization was classified as a preventive service. 

For a full recap of the morning, and reactions on Twitter, check out our Storify of the day:

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‘Women Know Best’ Capitol Hill Event

Along with the American Conservative Union, on Tuesday, June 17th, the March for Life hosted a seminar on Capitol Hill entitled “Women Know Best – Conservative Solutions Work,” to encourage and equip Capitol Hill staffers to confront the false “war on women.”  You can read Jeanne Monahan’s remarks on her blog post, entitled “What it Really Means to be Pro-Woman.”  A full recap of each of our speaker’s remarks is below, and more pictures are available HERE.

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March for Life Stands Against HHS Mandate

“As a proud American, it breaks my heart to see the government force businesses and religious non-profits against their will to carry drugs and devices which can destroy rather than prevent life.” – Jeanne Monahan

On May 8th, March for Life President Jeanne Monahan stood with pro-life leaders to support Priests for Life as their case against the HHS contraceptive mandate was heard in federal court.  WATCH Jeanne Monahan’s comments below: