ROLL CALL

Senate Takes Up Contraception Bill

‘Conscience’ amendment backed by Republicans.

An amendment that would allow employers to avoid insurance regulations that they find morally objectionable goes before the Senate for a vote Thursday. Put forward by Republican Senator Roy Blunt, the bill “is about the First Amendment,” said Blunt in a February press release. “It’s not about any one issue.” The vote on the bill does come, however, in the midst of a continuing partisan feud over an Obama healthcare mandate that requires all employers to provide insurance plans that cover prescription birth control. Blunt first tried to bring the amendment to a vote in February by attaching it to a $109 billion piece of transportation legislation.