Written by Don Byrd
Missouri Governor Jay Nixon today vetoed a bill that attempts to exempt any business from the requirement to provide contraception coverage in health insurance if the practice violated the employer’s religious beliefs. I say “attempts to” because the law would have been in apparently direct conflict with the federal law just upheld as constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court. For his part, Nixon didn’t claim to reject the legislation because of the potential conflict with federal law. He argues instead that the state already provides sufficient protections for religious employers, and the bill would lead to unexpected consequences.
In fact, he said, the bill would undermine the current protections because it would let an insurance company “impose its will, and deny inclusion of contraceptive coverage, even if that position is inconsistent with the rights and beliefs of the employee or employer.”
At a news conference in his Capitol office this morning, Nixon said he vetoed the bill because “we want families making these decisions — not insurance companies.
Lawmakers in the state sound like they believe they have the votes to override the veto. Stay tuned.
