Boehner Vows to Continue Contraception Fight "I think it's important for us to win this issue," Mr. Boehner told reporters just before the Senate killed a Republican measure with a vote of 51 to 48. The government, our government, for 220 years has respected the religious views of the American people, and for all of this time there's been an exception for those churches and other groups to protect the religious beliefs that they believe in, and that's being violated here. The Ohio Republican did not offer any details about a legislative path forward, but hinted that it would be different from the measure proposed by Senate Republicans. "I've been trying to take this out of the political realm and get it into a position where we can continue to protect the American people's right to their own religious views," he said. And there are a lot of ways to do that. There's one in the Senate. We have a couple in the House. It's matter of how we proceed. The battle in the Senate was a bruising one, and it is unclear which party emerged politically victorious. The Senate measure, written by Senator Roy Blunt, Republican of Missouri, would have allowed employers to deny mandated coverage under President Obama's health care law for reasons of religious beliefs and conscience. Democrats say the language was so broad that an employer could deny any health care coverage by simply claiming it offended his conscience. Democrats say Republicans, by picking a fight over contraception, had alienated women and political independents. The House Democratic leader, Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, called the measure "devastating legislation" in a statement Thursday. "It's just the latest ploy in the Republican agenda of disrespecting the health of American women," she said. Republicans framed the argument around religious liberty and believe they furthered their case that the government under Mr. Obama has become dangerously intrusive. But by the time the vote was called, it was clear some Republicans had become squeamish. Mr. Boehner, a Catholic conservative, was not one of them. "The government is moving in a direction that would force some Americans to violate their religious beliefs," he said. This is wrong, and we want to stop it.