At his weekly news conference Thursday, Speaker John A. Boehner pushed back against critics of House Republicans’ plan to strike down a District of Columbia law aimed at combatting employer discrimination base on reproductive health decisions, saying

“We have a number of members who are concerned about this issue and the issue is one of religious liberty,” Boehner said. “This is about conscience protections that the president says he supports but really hasn’t put regulations in place to protect the conscience clause that’s been frankly a part of our laws and statutes for decades and decades.”