ORLANDO, September 24, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) – Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan gave the HHS mandate its execution date if he is elected: “Day one.”
The Wisconsin congressman said if he and Mitt Romney win the election in November, the requirement that religious employers, including many religious employers, to provide contraception, sterilization, and abortifacient drugs, “will be gone, I can guarantee you that.”
Responding to a question from one of more than two thousand people at a rally at the University of Central Florida, Ryan said the regulation constitutes “an assault on religious liberty.”
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The phrase echoes a press release the self-described “pro-life Catholic” put out in February. “The Obama administration failed to recognize this mandate is in violation of our First Amendment right of religious freedom,” he wrote. “His decision disrespects not only the religious community, but it also disrespects the Constitution.”
The vice presidential nominee has increasingly attacked President Obama for his single-minded focus on abortion, which the president has made the centerpiece of his re-election campaign.
Ryan rapped Obama for his pro-abortion extremism during a speech at this month’s Values Voter Summit in Washington, D.C. “In complete disregard of millions of pro-life Democrats, President Obama has chosen to pander to the most extreme elements of his party,” he said.
In his well-received address, Ryan vowed “to repeal that mandate and all of ObamaCare” after the election.
His remarks have vindicated the faith of pro-life leaders, who expressed their relief when Mitt Romney selected Ryan as his running-mate in August. Romney had reportedly considered former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, who describes herself as “mildly pro-choice.”
Joseph Koss at CatholicVote.org writes that the decision to tap Ryan will make a big difference during the vice presidential debate between Ryan and Joe Biden on October 11, when “we will most likely see two very different interpretations of Catholic teaching in action.”