Editor’s note. The following are excerpts of remarks delivered yesterday by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) at a rally that took place prior to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals hearing a lawsuit brought by Priests for Life against the Obama mandate (Priests for Life, et al. v. Sebelius). NRLC President Carol Tobias also spoke. (See http://nrlc.cc/1jIqiBe)

Pro-Life Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ)
I am grateful that the DC Circuit Court of Appeals will be hearing this critical case for religious liberty, and I am hopeful that the court will provide much needed relief to Priests for Life from this discriminatory Obamacare policy.
I commend Father Pavone for his leadership in defending the weakest and most vulnerable and for initiating this lawsuit.
Under the Obama administration’s coercive mandate, religious nonprofits like Priests for Life have found themselves in the impossible position of being forced to violate their moral or religious beliefs, or face crippling fines. And this not only puts the Priests for Life organization at serious risk, but also their dedicated employees who may lose their jobs and their healthcare. Seeking to live out its religious beliefs on the sanctity of every human life, Priests for Life works every day to help build up a culture of life in this country. This Obamacare mandate is an astonishing assault on religious freedom.
If a business does not bow to the mandate, Obamacare imposes financial penalties that are completely unfair, unreasonable, and unconscionable. The Obama administration is saying we will punish you, we will hurt you, we could even put you out of business for providing healthcare for your employees unless you provide healthcare according to the government’s conscience. In effect this means that employees of a faith-based group like Priest for Life could lose the healthcare coverage they need for themselves and their families. President Obama has no business imposing his morality on people of faith, but that is exactly what their oppressive mandate does.
The courts have a duty to protect the religious and conscience rights of Priests for Life and everyone else suffering government imposed harm. The court must act to protect the First Amendment rights of these families. Protecting them also protects their employees from the dire, foolish, and unprecedented consequences of the Obamacare mandate.
And let’s make no mistake about it, this mandate is very much Obama’s willful intention. The imposition of this attack on religious freedom is no accident. It comes straight from the pages of Obamacare. In December of 2009, in the run up to the passage of Obamacare, Senator Mikulski offered an amendment which provided the authorizing language for this oppressive mandate. When President Obama spoke at Notre Dame University (also currently suing over the mandate) in 2009, he spoke about drafting a “sensible conscience clause” – and yet, today, protection of conscience is another highly visible broken promise of President Obama.
Rather than honor conscience rights, the President dishonors and employs coercion. Ninety-four lawsuits have been filed against Obamacare representing over 300 plaintiffs including this case and cases brought by the Little Sisters of the Poor and Notre Dame.
To tell people of faith that their conscience is irrelevant and that they must follow the federal government’s conscience rather than their own is completely antithetical to the American principle of freedom of religion and the first amendment. Unless reversed, Obama’s attack on conscience rights will result in government-imposed discrimination against those that seek to live and build a better world according to their faith. Under the weight of the mandate’s ruinous fines and penalties many businesses could be forced to shut down, eliminating jobs. I never would have believed this kind of religious violation could occur in the United States. Let us hope and pray that the courts will bring an end this abuse.