Washington, D.C. ­– U.S. Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Jon Kyl (R-AZ) today announced that they have signed on as co-sponsors to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 2012, introduced by Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), and the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act of 2011, introduced by Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO), to protect religious freedom and restore rights of conscience under President Obama’s health care law. Senators McCain and Kyl issued the following statement:

“In conjunction with the anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade, the Obama Administration announced that, beginning in August 2012, all U.S. employers would be required to offer health plans that fully cover the cost of birth control, sterilizations, and abortifacients for all women they employ.

“Religious freedom is sacred in our constitution and should be respected by public officials who swear to bear allegiance to it. Instead, the Obama Administration willfully developed a policy that tramples the rights of faith-based organizations by requiring that their employee health insurance plans fully cover the cost of birth control, sterilizations and aborifacients. It is reprehensible that this Administration shows no respect for those whose conscience would be violated under the new mandate. Under this new mandate, beginning in 2013, religious institutions that sponsor employee health plans would have to begin offering plans that provide contraception, sterilizations, and abortifacients at no cost, to all employees. As Archbishop Timothy Dolan aptly put it, ‘In effect, the president is saying we have a year to figure out how to violate our consciences.’ This is wrong.

“To restore conscience protections under President Obama’s health care law, we have cosponsored Senator Rubio’s bill, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 2012, and Senator Blunt’s bill, the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act of 2011.”