The Missouri House of Representatives this week passed a resolution expressing its “firm and unwavering” opposition to the federal mandates contained in the new federal health care law that would require employers to pay for health plans that include contraceptives, sterilizations and abortion drugs.

Sponsored by State Rep. Paul Curtman (R-Pacific), House Concurrent Resolution 41 passed in overwhelming fashion: 114 to 45 with 4 absent. (Click here to see how your representative voted.)

Several of the whereas clauses mention the predicament faced by the Catholic Church and other churches that morally object to paying for or providing some of the so-called “preventive services” that the Department of Health and Human Services has ruled employers must provide.

In one of its strongest passages HCR 41 declares:

WHEREAS, religious liberty is a fundamental principle in our nation and state that must be protected. The intrusion of the federal government into our health care choices by creating a health care mandate which forces not only the Catholic Church, other churches, and religious organizations, but also any person with deeply held religious beliefs to violate their conscience or be subject to a penalty is unacceptable in a free society;

The resolution calls on the Missouri Congressional delegation to write to Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and express their opposition to the new federal regulation. Passage of HCR 41 is one more sign of the growing opposition to the new federal mandate in Missouri.