__SALUTATION__
I wanted to share with you the attached letter that I co-authored with several San Diego faith leaders to Governor Jerry Brown requesting that he overturn his Department of Managed Health Care’s (DMHC) flagrant disregard for our constitutionally protected religious liberties.
Here is why we had to act: On August 22, the DMHC ordered all insurance plans in the state of California to immediately begin covering elective abortion procedures for all employees. To do this, the DMHC reinterpreted a forty year old state law and unilaterally determined that abortion should be considered a “basic health service" that should be covered by all insurance policies. By forcing all employers to purchase insurance policies for their employees that include abortion coverage, the constitutional free exercise rights of churches, businesses or nonprofit organizations that may be morally opposed to elective abortions are blatantly violated.
We are urging Governor Brown to overturn this unconstitutional mandate, and we need your help. If you support protecting religious freedom in California, please email me at senator.anderson@senate.ca.gov so that I can personally deliver your letter to Governor Brown.
Let's act together to defend religious liberties for all Californians.
Sincerely,
-Joel
Joel Anderson
State Senator
p.s. I also recently joint-authored a World News Daily op-ed with Pastor Jim Garlow of Skyline Wesleyan Church in San Diego calling all concerned Americans to send in letters urging the Governor to defend religious liberties. You can view that op-ed below. Also, if you have friends or neighbors that you believe would like to join our effort, please forward this email to them.
By Sen. Joel Anderson and Pastor Jim Garlow
Almost 400 years ago, a small group of Pilgrims arrived in Plymouth, Massachusetts, possessing only their faith and desire for religious liberty. One hundred years later, the religious freedom they sought became the cornerstone of the most successful experiment in free and open government the world has ever known: the United States.
In fact, religious freedom was such a fundamental part of the foundation of the United States that it is protected in multiple ways by the United States Constitution. In the First Amendment, the Founding Fathers prohibited the federal government from making a law “respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” The Supreme Court further protected religious freedom by applying these same limitations to state governments through the 14th Amendment so that the religious liberties citizens enjoyed at the federal level could not be taken from them at the state level.
Now, one agency in California is attempting to overturn hundreds of years of protected religious freedom with the stroke of a pen.
On Aug. 22, California’s Department of Managed Health Care ordered all insurance plans in the state to immediately begin covering elective abortion procedures for all employees – even those employed by churches, businesses or nonprofit organizations that may be morally opposed to the procedure.
In open defiance of the First and 14th Amendments’ protections, the Department of Managed Health Services reinterpreted a 40-year-old state law that requires health plans to cover “basic health services.” This law has been on the California books for 40 years, without elective abortion having ever been considered a “basic health service.”
The Department of Managed Health Care’s elective-abortion mandate is not to be taken lightly. This unprecedented decision violates the clear rights of churches, nonprofits and businesses that oppose elective abortion to operate from their moral foundation without infringement by the state.
The protections of religious freedom have, unquestionably, been upheld by the United States Supreme Court. Recently, the Court debated whether an employer could be exempted, on religious grounds, from federal requirements to provide contraception coverage to employees. In this Supreme Court case, many of these organizations objected to contraception coverage because of their belief that contraceptives are abortifacients.
The Court agreed and ruled that the Constitution protected these organizations’ religious liberty. How then could these same organizations now be ordered to purchase health plans that cover elective abortions in the state of California?
California’s Department of Managed Health Care is under the direct supervision of Gov. Jerry Brown. He has the ability to order this department to reverse this unconstitutional decision that ignores a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling. We hope that you will join our coalition of faith leaders and concerned Californians in asking Gov. Brown and the Department of Managed Health Care to reverse this ill-advised mandate by sending a letter of support to Senator.Anderson@sen.ca.gov.
Our right to religious liberty is purposeful and sacred, continuing the ideal that the United States is a safe haven for all of those who wish to live and worship according to their own beliefs. Now, as it was when the Pilgrims first stepped onto the Plymouth beaches seeking refuge from religious persecution, America must always be a place of religious tolerance and freedom.
Sen. Joel Anderson, R-Alpine, represents the 38th Senate District in California.
Jim Garlow, Ph.D., is the senior pastor at Skyline Church in San Diego, California, and is heard daily on over 800 radio outlets in his one-minute commentary, “The Garlow Perspective.”
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2014/11/religious-liberty-trampled-in-golden-state/#UkuIVBOu7rCFgGVJ.99
Here is why we had to act: On August 22, the DMHC ordered all insurance plans in the state of California to immediately begin covering elective abortion procedures for all employees. To do this, the DMHC reinterpreted a forty year old state law and unilaterally determined that abortion should be considered a “basic health service" that should be covered by all insurance policies. By forcing all employers to purchase insurance policies for their employees that include abortion coverage, the constitutional free exercise rights of churches, businesses or nonprofit organizations that may be morally opposed to elective abortions are blatantly violated.
We are urging Governor Brown to overturn this unconstitutional mandate, and we need your help. If you support protecting religious freedom in California, please email me at senator.anderson@senate.ca.gov so that I can personally deliver your letter to Governor Brown.
Let's act together to defend religious liberties for all Californians.
Sincerely,
-Joel
Joel Anderson
State Senator
p.s. I also recently joint-authored a World News Daily op-ed with Pastor Jim Garlow of Skyline Wesleyan Church in San Diego calling all concerned Americans to send in letters urging the Governor to defend religious liberties. You can view that op-ed below. Also, if you have friends or neighbors that you believe would like to join our effort, please forward this email to them.
CALIFORNIA SCHEMIN'
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY TRAMPLED IN GOLDEN STATE
Exclusive: Sen. Joel Anderson and Pastor Jim Garlow battle latest health-care regulation
Published: 11/14/2014 at 7:32 PMBy Sen. Joel Anderson and Pastor Jim Garlow
Almost 400 years ago, a small group of Pilgrims arrived in Plymouth, Massachusetts, possessing only their faith and desire for religious liberty. One hundred years later, the religious freedom they sought became the cornerstone of the most successful experiment in free and open government the world has ever known: the United States.
In fact, religious freedom was such a fundamental part of the foundation of the United States that it is protected in multiple ways by the United States Constitution. In the First Amendment, the Founding Fathers prohibited the federal government from making a law “respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” The Supreme Court further protected religious freedom by applying these same limitations to state governments through the 14th Amendment so that the religious liberties citizens enjoyed at the federal level could not be taken from them at the state level.
Now, one agency in California is attempting to overturn hundreds of years of protected religious freedom with the stroke of a pen.
On Aug. 22, California’s Department of Managed Health Care ordered all insurance plans in the state to immediately begin covering elective abortion procedures for all employees – even those employed by churches, businesses or nonprofit organizations that may be morally opposed to the procedure.
In open defiance of the First and 14th Amendments’ protections, the Department of Managed Health Services reinterpreted a 40-year-old state law that requires health plans to cover “basic health services.” This law has been on the California books for 40 years, without elective abortion having ever been considered a “basic health service.”
The Department of Managed Health Care’s elective-abortion mandate is not to be taken lightly. This unprecedented decision violates the clear rights of churches, nonprofits and businesses that oppose elective abortion to operate from their moral foundation without infringement by the state.
The protections of religious freedom have, unquestionably, been upheld by the United States Supreme Court. Recently, the Court debated whether an employer could be exempted, on religious grounds, from federal requirements to provide contraception coverage to employees. In this Supreme Court case, many of these organizations objected to contraception coverage because of their belief that contraceptives are abortifacients.
The Court agreed and ruled that the Constitution protected these organizations’ religious liberty. How then could these same organizations now be ordered to purchase health plans that cover elective abortions in the state of California?
California’s Department of Managed Health Care is under the direct supervision of Gov. Jerry Brown. He has the ability to order this department to reverse this unconstitutional decision that ignores a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling. We hope that you will join our coalition of faith leaders and concerned Californians in asking Gov. Brown and the Department of Managed Health Care to reverse this ill-advised mandate by sending a letter of support to Senator.Anderson@sen.ca.gov.
Our right to religious liberty is purposeful and sacred, continuing the ideal that the United States is a safe haven for all of those who wish to live and worship according to their own beliefs. Now, as it was when the Pilgrims first stepped onto the Plymouth beaches seeking refuge from religious persecution, America must always be a place of religious tolerance and freedom.
Jim Garlow, Ph.D., is the senior pastor at Skyline Church in San Diego, California, and is heard daily on over 800 radio outlets in his one-minute commentary, “The Garlow Perspective.”
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2014/11/religious-liberty-trampled-in-golden-state/#UkuIVBOu7rCFgGVJ.99