WASHINGTON D.C. - U.S. Senator John Boozman (R-AR) issued the following statement President Obama’s “accommodation” of religious liberty in his revised health care mandate covering contraceptives:

“I am pleased to see the President is listening to the concerns of religious institutions over this heavy-handed mandate.  However, you don’t ‘accommodate’ religious liberties, you respect them.  That’s why they are enshrined in the Constitution.  The very fact that President Obama would try to steamroll those protections for religious organizations to begin with shows that he is intent on forcing his views on Americans regardless of what the Constitution says,” Boozman said.

“Today’s announcement of a ‘compromise’ raises more questions than it answers. Nothing in life is free and someone will still have to pay for coverage that includes birth control, abortifacients and sterilization.  Who foots the bill for this coverage remains to be seen, but it could very well be the religious organizations that are supposed to be protected under this ‘compromise.’  I will continue to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to reverse this unconstitutional mandate in its entirety and to protect the conscience rights of Americans from future attacks by this administration,” Boozman added.

On January 20th, the Department of Health and Human Services issued a mandate requiring almost all private health insurance policies, including those issued by religious institutions, to cover sterilizations and contraceptives, including emergency contraceptives, at no cost to policyholders. President Obama today announced a modified version of the mandate will still require that this coverage be offered to employees at faith-based institutions—including church-run hospitals, non-profits and schools—but pushes the costs on to insurance companies.