Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., should have seen this coming from a mile away, says John Avlon

Sen. Bill Cassidy , R-Louisiana, sponsored amendment to Pregnant Workers Fairness Act .

Cassidy says he objects to the new regulation, but he doth protest too much — because the mandate was in many ways his own doing.

The proposed regulation would effectively require employers to give their workers leave for an abortion or treatments or services related to that abortion.

A source in the pro-life community told me that Cassidy ’s staff told us prior to the vote that they knew abortion was a problem but they didn’t want to derail the process.

Cassidy had all the leverage he needed to insist on a carve-out for religious organizations, language exempting abortion from the bill entirely, or both.

Instead, he caved like a cheap suit, because he was worried about “derail[ing] the process”.