Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren (D) tore into her rival Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) for supporting a GOP amendment that would permit any employer to deny coverage of birth control or other services they deem morally objectionable in their health insurance plan.

“I am shocked that Senator Brown jumped in to support such an extreme measure,” Warren told The Washington Post’s Greg Sargent in an interview. “This is an all new attack on health care. Any insurance company could leave anyone without health care, just when they need it most.”

“This is an extreme attack on every one of us,” Warren added. “It opens the door to outright discrimination. It would let insurance companies and corporations cut off pregnant women, overweight guys, older Americans, or anyone — because some executive claims it’s part of his moral code. Maybe that wouldn’t happen, but I don’t want to take the chance.”

Scott Brown’s spokesman pushed back in an email to Sargent.

“It’s elitist for Elizabeth Warren to dictate to religious people about what they should believe and how they should act. She wants to use the power of government to force Catholics to violate the teachings of their faith,” Brown spokesman Colin Reed emailed. “That is wrong. This issue deals with one of our most fundamental rights as a people — the freedom of religion. Like Ted Kennedy, Scott Brown supports a religious conscience exemption in health care.”