WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate is preparing to vote tomorrow on a Democratic-sponsored bill aimed at ensuring that women receive free contraception coverage even if they work for a company that has a religious objection to it.
In the Hobby Lobby case, the Supreme Court ruled that employers don’t have to provide coverage for birth control methods their faith prohibits. Democrats say that amounts to letting bosses impose their religion on employees.
But Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, says legislation to remove employers’ religious rights would “reduce the free exercise of religion from a fundamental human right to a cheap election year prop.”
Democrats are seeking to turn the battle into a women’s rights issue that can help them at the ballot box in November.
The bill appears unlikely to draw the 60 votes needed to advance in the Senate.
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