A new conscience-clause-advocacy group

Politico reports that a new "center-right" group is forming "to advocate for measures exempting religious organizations from federal rules governing contraception coverage."

. . . The group is set to announce more details about its structure and planned activities in the coming days. Matalin said Conscience Cause plans to leverage “earned media, paid media, petitions” and more to spur a legislative debate.

While the operatives involved in the group say it is not focused on electoral politics, there’s been an unmistakable loss of momentum on the conservative side of the debate as it’s been framed as an issue of reproductive rights, rather than religious conscience. To the extent that faith-oriented activists and conservatives in general can move the conversation back in the direction of conscience, it’s presumably a help to Republicans and to those who think President Barack Obama’s split-the-difference policy on the issue is inadequate.