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Birth control’s big religious battle A debate over the role of religion in political life has shaped recent clashes over contraception and abortion.
March 1, 2012
Senate Democrats speak with reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington after they defeated a Republican effort to roll back President Obama's policy on contraception insurance coverage. From left are Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), and Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin (D-Ill.).
J. Scott Applewhite
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AP
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Feb 16, 2012
The Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison, president of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, second from left, testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee's hearing on religious organizations and contraception. He was joined by William E. Lori, left, Roman Catholic bishop of Bridgeport, Conn.; C. Ben Mitchell, Graves Professor of Moral Philosophy at Union University, and Rabbi Meir Soloveichik, director of the Straus Center of Torah and Western Thought at Yeshiva University. The hearing was criticized for not including a woman, and a photo of the all-male panel went viral.
Carolyn Kaster
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AP
President Obama, joined by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in the White House briefing room on Feb. 10, announced a shift of his administration's health care rule requiring religious employers to provide women free access to contraception, instead requiring insurers to cover them for free.
Mark Wilson
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GETTY IMAGES
Feb 14, 2012
Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York and head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, pictured while in Rome for his elevation to cardinal, said that while Obama's about-face initially sparked glimmers of hope in the Catholic Church, it ended up being a "hill of beans."
Gregorio Borgia
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AP
Feb 20, 2012
People crowd into a room at the Idaho state capitol in Boise during testimony about a bill that would allow Idaho employers and insurers to ignore a federal mandate to provide contraceptive coverage in their health plans. State Rep. Carlos Bilbao, the measure's sponsor, says no employer should be required to provide insurance that violates religious beliefs, but he was forced to amend his bill on the grounds that it has the unintended consequence of denying prescription coverage for conditions unrelated to birth control.
John Miller
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AP
Sister Carol Keehan, president of the Catholic Health Association of the United States, leads the 600-member umbrella group for Catholic hospitals. The nun has found herself in the midst of national debates over healthcare, abortion and contraception: She supported the Obama administration's health care act after an executive order banning funding for abortion services, demanded a concession on the birth control regulations in 2012, and initially lauded the latter compromise suggested by Obama on contraception coverage. Today, Keehans writes, "something needs to be fixed" with the administration's approach to birth control.
Anonymous
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AP
Feb 16, 2012
A young participant holds a placard and a rosary during a pro-life demonstration in front of the White House. Park Police detained at least six religious activists while they were protesting the proposed mandated insurance coverage for contraception.
JEWEL SAMAD
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AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Feb 16, 2012
Two children joined other Christian activists during the demonstration in front of the White House.
JEWEL SAMAD
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AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Jan 23, 2012
Anti-abortion demonstrators take part in the "March for Life" in Washington. Nearly 100,000 protesters marched to the U.S. Supreme Court to mark the 39th anniversary of the Court's landmark Roe v. Wade decision on abortion.
KEVIN LAMARQUE
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REUTERS
Jan 23, 2012
Sara Brook, an anti-abortion protester from Missouri, argues with an abortion-rights supporter during the March for Life.
Sarah L. Voisin
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THE WASHINGTON POST
Jan 16, 2012
Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum, with wife Karen on the GOP presidential campaign trail in January, has spoken out against the use of contraception, including by married couples.
David Goldman
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AP
Anti-abortion protesters assemble outside a Planned Parenthood clinic in Dubuque, Iowa, in 2009.
Jeremy Portje
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AP
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Section:/national/on-faith
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