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Tea Party on Abortion |
The insurance requirement, part of the sweeping Affordable Care Act that had earned Obama such disdain among tea partiers, allowed narrow exemptions for churches but not other faith-based organizations such as universities or hospitals. Many states have similar laws, and the vast majority of health plans cover birth control. But the issue became a furious election-year fight, and Rubio its most high-profile combatant. "This is not about women's rights or contraception; this is about the religious liberties that our country has always cherished." "At the end of the day, it's about the fact that now the federal government has the power to force a religion to pay for something the religion teaches is wrong." Rubio's legislation, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 2012, would expand exemptions for faith-based organizations.
Tea Party support for regulation of childbearing is certainly not limited to [that one VA group]. Whereas a 58% majority of all Americans approve of the decision of the Supreme Court to establish a "Constitutional right for women to obtain legal abortions in this country," only 40% of Tea Partiers approve of that court decision and 53% consider it a "bad thing."
Tea Party support for regulation of childbearing is certainly not limited to [that one VA group]. Whereas a 58% majority of all Americans approve of the decision of the Supreme Court to establish a "Constitutional right for women to obtain legal abortions in this country," only 40% of Tea Partiers approve of that court decision and 53% consider it a "bad thing."
One Virginia leader sent us a message the morning after we witnessed a Tea Party meeting in which strong views were expressed on pro-life issues. She wrote, "Tea Party organizations typically do not take a position on social issues such as abortion and gay rights. The conservatism that unites us is governmental and fiscal, not social. While it is rare to have discussion of social issues come up at our meetings, it will on occasion."
Actually, in our observation, it is not so rare for socially conservative moral arguments to come up in Tea Party meetings. In practice, social conservatives make up a vocal majority of many Tea Parties.