Ad Says Romney Vote Defends Catholics’ Religious Liberty

CHICAGO — A new video aims to sway unaffiliated Catholic voters to Mitt Romney by stressing religious liberty as an election issue.

“We must vote to protect our schools, our hospitals, our charities, our faith,” the ad says. “We won't have social justice unless we defend religious freedom.”

The ad, produced by the CatholicVote.org Candidate Fund, cites American Catholics’ work in education, health care and work for the poor. It uses images of immigrants, the Catholic Mass, religious teaching sisters and Catholic hospitals to endorse the Republican Romney-Ryan presidential ticket.

The ad was published on YouTube on Oct. 30. It had more than 10,000 views as of Wednesday afternoon.

Joshua Mercer, executive director of the CatholicVote.org Candidate Fund, explained the motivations behind the ad.

“Before the election of Barack Obama, religious freedom wasn't a partisan issue; it was something everyone believed in and defended,” he said Oct. 31.

Mercer said that President Obama “sought to pander to certain people by gender and religion through this unjust HHS mandate.”

The Department of Health and Human Services has mandated that most employers of more than 50 employees provide insurance coverage without a co-pay for sterilization and contraception, including some abortion-causing drugs. Despite Catholic and other objections to providing such coverage, the mandate at present does not exempt many Catholic charities, health-care systems and colleges.

Objecting institutions face fines of $100 per employee per day if they do not comply. At least 100 plaintiffs, including several non-Catholic businesses and institutions, have challenged the mandate in 38 federal lawsuits.

While the Obama administration has promised it would revise the mandate’s narrow religious exemption, the details of its proposal have not been released. The Obama campaign has continued to defend the mandate and has used it as a campaign issue, contending that opponents want to limit women’s access to contraceptives.

“Any politician who would attack our soup kitchens, hospitals and schools is morally unworthy of our votes,” Mercer said. “That is why Catholics should vote for Romney-Ryan.”

Mercer said that key states like Wisconsin, Iowa, Ohio, Minnesota and Pennsylvania have large Catholic populations. He said the Catholic vote is “the most critical swing demographic.”

The CatholicVote.org Candidate Fund has spent $290,000 in independent expenditures on behalf of its endorsed candidates in 2012.

Comments

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Posted by Betty Klein on Friday, Nov, 2, 2012 2:24 PM (EDT):

I don’t see how any real Catholic can vote for Obama.If they do they put their soul in great jeopardy.

Posted by Roger on Friday, Nov, 2, 2012 9:08 AM (EDT):

Joanie, I don’t know where you are getting your information, but the Mormons are opposed to same sex marriage. They joined Catholics in California to vote against it there. Mitt Romney has been a faithful member of his church. I don’t know how you can equate him with President Obama who now sees no problem with same sex marriage. On abortion, Obama twice, TWICE, voted against a bill in the Illinois Legislature that would have banned late term abortions. If anything, it is Obama who is for same sex marriage and abortion, anytime, anywhere. And Obamacare forces, FORCES under threat of daily fines, religious organizations to provide free contraceptives and abortion drugs to employees. Mitt Romney has said he would repeal Obamacare his first day in office. It will likely be more complicated to do the first day, but he certainly has not wavered in his opposition to anything that is so unconstitutional. So according to the values you describe in your post, you can’t vote for the president.

Posted by Joanie on Thursday, Nov, 1, 2012 2:21 PM (EDT):

I am sorry, but just because they claim they believe in religious liberty does not mean any Catholic should vote for them the so called “lesser of two evils” junk. Mitt Romney both in his past as Governor and still now as a Presidential Candidate believes in same-same partnerships and the Plan B Morning after Pill and supports Abortion in cases of Rape and incest. Are these not some of the so called “Non Prudential” matters besides Euthanasia (don’t know where he stands there or Human cloning” As a matter of fact he said just recently he would change his Abortion views in certain states just to get the votes of people in those places. He is to me just as bad as the current President who makes no bones about his own positions on the life marriage and family issues. I can’t support him.

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