I am no fan of Gov. Romney, but at a press conference yesterday on Capitol Hill, congressional Republicans at which they announced their continued opposition to teh President's "accommodation" on HHS mandates, a reporter asked about whether or not the congressional Republicans were similarly displeased by Gov. Romney's record in Massachusetts where, it was asserted, he did the same thing.
Actually Romney did something worse, approving a health care law that explicitly provided for taxpayer abortion and, contra those who think Mr. Romney's conversion from pro-choice to pro-life provides him cover on the issue, the Romney health care law was enacted after his conversion.
But, the issue of mandates regarding Catholic health care was different, and here is where he gets a bum rap. Romney originally vetoed a bill that required Catholic hospitals to dispense emergency Plan B in the case of rape. Six months later he signed the same bill into law. But, whether or not Catholic hospitals dispense emergency contraception is different from an employer mandate about what is covered by a hospital's insurance plans for its employees. And, in the event, the Church agreed to dispense emergency contraception in the case of rape, provided no pregnancy test was done first. That way, the intent of the act is to protect the woman who had been raped from the consequences of an assault by someone else and not to induce an abortion.
