In a 51-48 vote on Thursday, the Senate rejected a Republican amendment
that would have allowed any employer to deny medical coverage for
services it objected to on religious grounds. Drawn up in the wake of
the Obama Administration’s decision to mandate contraception coverage at
Catholic universities and hospitals, the amendment, championed by Roy
Blunt of Missouri, never had much of a chance of getting through a
Democratic Senate or Obama White House.
But the issue of religious
freedom, as most Republicans tell it, and women’s health coverage,
according to most Democrats, cannot be easily tabled by a procedural
vote. It has already hijacked some of the most high-profile political
contests of the cycle. And there’s no reason to think it won’t continue
to do so.
