House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi says the Catholic Church wants the federal government to enforce contraception because the church, by default, has failed to do so.
"Ninety-eight percent of women in childbearing age that are Catholic use contraception,” Pelosi, a Catholic, said in a speech at Texas A&M University in College Station.
“So, in practice, the church has not enforced this, and now they want the federal government and private insurance to enforce it. It just isn't consistent to me," a
CNSNews.com report quotes the California Democrat as saying.
Americans should pray for successful implementation of President Barack Obama's mandate that insurance companies provide healthcare plans with contraception, including sterilization and abortion-inducing drugs, Pelosi said.
"Abortion should be rare and safe," she said, so contraception offers women a logical choice.
"The same kind of science that can help women with the size and timing of their families is the same type of science that can help with infertility and other health issues that women face. So let's be prayerful of that and how we go forward on that," Pelosi said in response to a question from the audience.
The Catholic Church opposes Obama's mandate, scheduled to go into effect Aug. 1. All 181 Catholic bishops in the United States have denounced the regulation and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops have called it "an unprecedented attack on religious freedom.”
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