The Senate's Democratic majority is blocking the GOP's bid to (roll back) President Obama's policy on contraception insurance coverage. The vote came down a day along party lines 51:48. It killed an (amendment) that would have allowed employers and insurers to opt out of coverage on moral or religious grounds. Senator Patty Murray of Washington State says the vote is (significant).
“We defeated an amendment that would have (historically) taken away something that women in this country have counted on for decades, and that's the ability to make their own (healthcare choices) in the privacy of their homes.”
But Republicans say the policy (violates) the First Amendment's guarantee of (religious freedom) by forcing insurers and employers to pay for coverage even if their faiths forbid the use of contraceptives.