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Senator Murray touts ‘Hobby Lobby’ birth control coverage bill in Pike/Pine visit

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Senator Patty Murray was on our Capitol Hill Friday morning to stir up some local support for her proposed bill that would require all employer-based health insurance plans to cover birth control for female employees. In last week’s 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court ruled the arts and crafts chain store Hobby Lobby could use religious opposition to birth control to avoid the Obamacare requirement that health insurance plans include contraceptive coverage.

Murray, who introduced the bill Tuesday in Washington D.C., was at Oddfellows Friday to talk about the “legislative fix” to the Supreme Court ruling. The Protect Women’s Health from Corporate Interference Act is expected to pass the Democrat-controlled Senate, but has little chance of getting out of the Republican-controlled House, pundits say.

Speaking on the other Capitol Hill earlier this week, Murray outlined the importance of the bill:

After five justices decided last week that an employer’s personal views can interfere with women’s access to essential health services, we in Congress need to act quickly to right this wrong … This bicameral legislation will ensure that no CEO or corporation can come between people and their guaranteed access to health care, period. I hope Republicans will join us to revoke this court-issued license to discriminate and return the right of Americans to make their own decisions, about their own health care and their own bodies.

The Courage Campaign Super PAC is running an online petition to tell congress to pass the legislation.