WASHINGTON â€"  Democrats and Republicans in the Senate are gearing up for first vote in what has become a fierce fight over President Obama's mandate that health insurers must cover the cost of contraceptives.
The Senate will vote Thursday on whether or not they want to quash the so-called "conscience" amendment authored by Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo, a measure designed to counter Obama's mandate.Â
The amendment would allow insurers and employers to opt out of any provision in the president's health care law to which they object on moral or religious grounds. That includes the requirement to cover the cost of birth control.Â
Obama's policy decision was rewritten last month under pressure from Catholic bishops and others. It now requires health insurers to cover birth control for employees even of religiously affiliated institutions whose beliefs conflict with contraception. As part of his original health care overhaul, the previous policy required employers providing health care insurance to their workers to cover contraceptives.
The Catholic bishops and many conservatives say that still infringes on religious freedom.
The issue has started a bitter and fierce dialogue over how much power the government should be able to wield over religious institutions in regards to the benefits they provide their employees, and is shaping up to be a hot topic in the 2012 election.
Politicians from both parties, eager to rouse their respective political bases in an election year, have been quick to slam the other side over their stance on the issue.Â
Republicans say Obama's requirement violates the freedom of religion because it forces some organizations to cover contraception even though their faith forbids it.
In a statement issued Wednesday evening, Richard M. Doerflinger, the Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said Blunt's measure has been created to prevent religious institutions from having to choose between honoring their beliefs and honoring their commitment to cover health care for their employees.
He said Senate Democrats' claims that the bill would cause 20.4 million women now receiving coverage for preventive services to lose that coverage are "preposterous."
"The Blunt amendment does not modify state or federal laws that are now in effect," he said. "It only amends the new mandated benefits provisions in Title I of the Health Care Reform Act of 2010 (PPACA), supplying the respect for religious beliefs and moral convictions that is already part of other federal health programs, but is woefully missing from PPACA."
However, Democrats have cast the bill as an attempt by Republican leaders, under pressure from religious authorities, to limit women's access to birth control.
They claim the bill is "a wolf in sheep's clothing," and may allow employers to exclude coverage for any conditions they find religiously or morally objectionable.
They say this could become a slippery slope, resulting in the exclusion of coverage for HIV & AIDS, mental health, hemophilia, STD's and more.
The Obama administration blasted Blunt's amendment in a press release Wednesday, saying the president's supporters need to "stand for a woman's right to make her own health decisions."
"This is an issue for everyone," the release said. "We're not about to sit back and let the other side tear down access to better care."
Some Republicans privately grumble that focusing on contraception insurance risks losing focus on the number one concern among voters: the economy.
A majority of Americans support the use of contraceptives. The public is generally in favor of mandating birth control coverage for employees of religiously-affiliated employers, according to a CBS News/New York Times poll February 8-13. The survey found that 61 percent favor the mandate, while 31 percent oppose it. Even Catholics, whose church strongly opposed the recent government mandate, support the requirement about as much as all Americans support it.
Late Wednesday, a slate of Republican centrists appeared uncertain how they would vote on the amendment.
"It's much broader than I could support," Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, said on MSNBC just after announcing she was dropping her re-election bid. "I think we should focus on the issue of contraceptives and whether or not it should be included in a health insurance plan, and what requirements there should be."
Fox News' Trish Turner and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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