Right Wing Anti-Contraception Amendment Defeated in Senate
Some good news from Washington DC; the Senate has voted to defeat the religious right’s latest attack on women’s rights: Blunt Amendment Defeated in Senate.
The Senate defeated Sen. Roy Blunt’s amendment to allow employers to refuse to cover health services Thursday, dealing Republicans a high-profile setback in the fight over the Obama administration’s contraception coverage mandate.
Sen. Olympia Snowe, the Maine Republican who this week said she would not run for reelection, joined nearly all Democrats in a 51-48 vote to dispense of the amendment, which would have allowed employers to decline to cover certain health benefits that conflict with their religious beliefs.
That’s a disgracefully small margin, though, and the culture warriors aren’t going to stop trying to roll back America’s social progress and control women’s reproductive health. This isn’t really a political fight — it’s a deeply reactionary struggle for control.