A boisterous rally Saturday in downtown Seattle shows that the battle over President Obama’s health care reform law isn’t over, even though some of it has already taken effect.
A crowd of about 200 gathered outside the U.S. District Courthouse to speak against the law and stress their belief that the government is trying to dictate morality.
The group consisted of conservative, mostly religious-affiliated protesters who have opposed health-care reform all along, and still want the president
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A boisterous rally Saturday in downtown Seattle shows that the battle over President Obama’s health care reform law isn’t over, even though some of it has already taken effect.
A crowd of about 200 gathered outside the U.S. District Courthouse to speak against the law and stress their belief that the government is trying to dictate morality.
The group consisted of conservative, mostly religious-affiliated protesters who have opposed health-care reform all along, and still want the president to take some of it back. The say the law is an attack on their religious freedom.
“It’s just the start of the government coming in and telling us we have to do things that violate our conscience and our religious beliefs,” said Father Jim Northrop of St. Brendan Catholic Church, who was at the rally.
The protesters are outraged by a provision in Obama’s health care reform law that requires all insurers to cover birth control for women, including the morning-after pill, free of charge.
“And that goes against our beliefs, which is promoting life,” said protester Khanh Nguyen.
Saturday’s protest was the third “religious freedom rally” in eight months.
Some liken it to a battle.
“The right to stand up for our beliefs and not be forced to participate in actions that we feel are immoral,” said protester Colleen Stergios.
And, as in any battle, there’s the opposing force. The voices of about two dozen pro-choice demonstrators fought to be heard above the far bigger pro-life rally.
One of the counter-protesters was women’s rights activist Helen Gilbert, who worries that health care reform might lose ground.
“I was appalled when I heard people protesting making birth control available to women,” she says.
She realizes the fight is far from over.
“My sign is ‘barefoot and pregnant.’ That’s what this movement wants to do — put women back barefoot and pregnant, muffled and without resources, and we’re not going to do it,” says Gilbert.
Groups opposed to the contraception mandate also organized rallies in other major cities across the country. They timed it close to the election, hoping sympathetic voters will support like-minded candidates.