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WASHINGTON, D.C., April 20, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) – A prominent politician with a large youth following has added his name to the list of those who oppose the Obama administration mandate that religious institutions provide contraception, abortifacient drugs, and sterilization as part of their health care coverage.

Ron Paul, the libertarian Texas Congressman and Republican presidential candidate, has signed the letter to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius which states, “this mandate constitutes an unprecedented effort by the federal government to dictate the terms of private health insurance coverage and infringes upon individual liberty and conscience rights.”

“Employers should remain free from government coercion when deciding whether or not to offer” health insurance benefits, much less deciding the content of that coverage, it says.

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“It’s not the role of government,” Doris Gordon, founder of Libertarians for Life (L4L), told LifeSiteNews.com – especially when it comes to forcing employers to pay for abortion-inducing drugs like Plan B and Ella.

“I happen to be an atheist, and I agree that they should not force any institution, religious or otherwise, to enable women to kill their children,” Gordon told LifeSiteNews. “I don’t have any religious view on that. I just think it’s unjust.”

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Paul has waged a tireless war against expanding the government’s role in health care. He previously called the health care reform bill an “unconstitutional monstrosity” and said “the founders would be horrified” by it.

Libertarians believe that demanding employers provide health care coverage violates the non-aggression principle, a basic tenet of libertarian philosophy. “No group has the right to initiate force against innocent people unless somebody is violating another person’s rights, especially to serve your own interest,” Gordon told LifeSiteNews.com.

“The right to one’s own life, liberty, and property is not the right of somebody else to do with as he pleases.”

Paul, a three-time presidential candidate and obstetrician, has a considerable pedigree in the pro-life movement. He has recently promised, “I will veto any spending bill that contains funding for Planned Parenthood, facilities that perform abortion and all government family planning schemes.”

As a strict constitutionalist, he does not believe the federal government has the power to regulate abortion, but supports state restrictions on abortion.

The full text of the letter is as follows:

Dear Secretary Sebelius,

We are writing again to express our opposition to guidelines first issued by the Department of Health and Human Services on August 3, 2011, which remain effective. We maintain that this mandate constitutes an unprecedented effort by the federal government to dictate the terms of private health insurance coverage and infringes upon individual liberty and conscience rights.

Insurers, plan sponsors, and any as yet undefined third parties referenced in the March 16, 2012 Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, should remain free from government coercion when deciding whether or not to offer, purchase, or fund particular types of health insurance coverage. Moreover, we fully support faith-based universities and health care providers in their struggle to retain their inalienable right to avoid complicity in facilitating the violation of their core values.

We maintain that this mandate, which contradicts longstanding federal precedent and a historic bipartisan consensus on the rights of conscience in health care, will force many employers—particularly religious institutions—to choose between their convictions and livelihood, to either violate their deeply held beliefs, drop health care coverage, or cease providing health care services to the general public, disproportionately affecting vulnerable populations. We therefore respectfully request that the Department take these concerns into consideration and rescind the mandate.