This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, June 13, 2012 - The Missouri branch of the AFL-CIO is asking Gov. Jay Nixon to veto legislation to allow businesses to decline to provide coverage for abortion, contraception or sterilization.
In an unsigned email entitled “Your health-care decisions shouldn't be up to your boss,” the federation of unions called on the Democratic governor to veto the legislation sponsored by Sen. John Lamping, R-Ladue, in the Senate and House Majority Leader Tim Jones, R-Eureka in the House.
The bill would allow employers to exclude coverage for abortion, contraception or sterilization if such coverage violated their religious or ethical beliefs. It would also allow employees to refuse to pay for such coverage in a group plan if they held similar objections.
The email states that the bill "would allow bosses to deny workers access to birth control, an unacceptable erosion of workers' rights on the job.”
“With women now making up more than half of America’s workforce, it is crucial that we, as the labor movement, continue to defend the rights of all women and all workers against any effort to allow employers to dictate the quality of women’s health care,” email states.
While proponents, such as Jones, have said that the bill is “a comprehensive bill to protect religious freedom and liberties,” opponents say the bill conflicts with the federal Affordable Care Act, the health-insurance law now before the U.S. Supreme Court. The federal act requires that no-cost contraceptive coverage be available through most group health plans or through insurers. Religious institutions, such as churches, are exempted, but religious-affiliated institutions, such as universities, are not.
The e-mail concludes that “working people should be able to continue to make decisions based on their own religious beliefs and moral convictions, not those of their employer. ... All women and men should have access to quality health care, not determined by political agendas,” the email states.
(Start of update) Nixon spokesman Scott Holste said that he didn’t have any updates on whether the governor would sign or veto the bill.
He did add that Nixon's office has received well over 3,000 emails from both proponents and opponents of the legislation since the end of the legislative session. (End of update)
While the bill ended up passing by a veto-proof majority in the Senate, it fell four votes short from reaching that threshold in the House.
Beacon political reporter Jo Mannies provided information for this story.
