Obama Contraception Policy Supported By Key Catholic Group

WASHINGTON -- The White House has support from a key Catholic health group on its compromise birth control policy.

Sister Carol Keehan heads the Catholic Health Organization. She says the compromise "has responded to the issues we identified that needed to be fixed."

Senior administration officials tell The Associated Press the compromise policy says religious employers won't have to cover birth control for their employees, after all.

Instead, insurance companies will be directly responsible for providing free contraception.

Keehan says the resolution "protects the religious liberty and conscience rights of Catholic institutions."

And Planned Parenthood Federation of America says the approach "does not compromise a woman's ability to access these critical birth control benefits."

Comments

[dmessy]

12:10 AM on 02/20/2012

there really is two issues here... one true contraception versus the notion that something after conception is a form of contraception and two what the Church position is

It's not for the Nuns to say what the Church position is -- Catholic's are against contraception as a policy. That doesn't prevent you from practicing contraception but that you should not expect the Church to support it.

Second is the issue of who should pay for it. While we could argue back and forth about whether contraception should be free to all woman, that's only true as long as conception has not happened. The minute it has, any form of "contraception" is truly an abortion. To say otherwise is just to decieve yourself. Once you enter that territory you're talking about a immensely different situation for a majority of Americans.

This sugar coating that Obama put on the policy is imply that -- lipstick. He isn't really fooling anyone. And anyone that thinks this makes a difference is simply fooling themselves

[goldgoose]

06:03 PM on 03/01/2012

Certainly, I am not Catholic however to say that "This sugar coating that Obama put on the policy is simply that -- lipstick" is both laughable and nonsensical; sorry. It is just the thought of sugar coating contraception being lipstick; I can't even imagine my President Obama in lipstick.
As for the nuns and priests having an interest in contraception, that in itself is perplexing. Nuns and priest have their own problems, so I am really not too interested in their prying and peeping into mine and other peoples sex life.
Sorry, but I just can't have any sympathy or respect for other people prying into my sex life whether it is a Congressman, a President, a priest, or a nun.
However, it would appear to me, as an American citizen, that it is in my own interest to assure that every citizen in my nation has access to contraception for many elementary reasons (taxes, economy, compassion, the general mental health of my fellow citizens and neighbors). My God agrees with me.
It grieve me that Americans are so concerned about the sex life of everyone else including complete strangers; even worse, it grieves me that some citizens are so unconcerned about unwanted children being born and becomes problems for out society.

[The last sane American]

07:22 PM on 02/16/2012

Mr. President,

Will you have the decency to disavow Sr. Keehan's remarks as being the position on this "reproductive services" mandate by the CHA?

The CHA has vigorously denied her statement. Leaving it in place causes the American public to think that your Administration stoops low enough to outright lie to the same public.

The Office of the President will suffer by your silence

[dmessy]

12:11 AM on 02/20/2012

Lying is the only true competence they have...

[Anon Ymouse]

05:05 PM on 02/14/2012

The government would save millions by requiring those on welfare to use contraceptives!
How many welfare recipients are making babies while they live in government subsidized housing?
How many consider it a business?

[dmessy]

12:13 AM on 02/20/2012

actually having babies puts money in their pocket --if you can bare to ignore them and give them nothing

[goldgoose]

06:09 PM on 03/01/2012

I can't perceive of a woman going through child birth and having responsibility for the lifetime of a child, for a welfare check if there are any other options available. Anyone who would suggest that must be a male of the species and Republican.

[Anon Ymouse]

05:02 PM on 02/14/2012

The Catholic church should focus on "Predator Priests" . How about prosecuting those priests that are preying on children?

People in glass houses....

[The last sane American]

07:24 PM on 02/16/2012

You don't get it .
Deflection achieves nothing. The dispute is still right in front of you.

[MendingFences]

04:22 PM on 02/14/2012

Nothing is ever free. The insurance companies will raise the premiums for insurance since it is now going to be required by Obama's Edict to cover the cost of contraceptives. This will not make it easier for religious based institutions to get health insurance.

[Charles Allen]

04:15 PM on 02/16/2012

Actually it should reduce costs, as birth control costs less than paying out for unplanned pregnancies.

[The last sane American]

07:25 PM on 02/16/2012

I would like to see the maths.

I would also prefer a doctor that cures me; not just treat my symptoms?

[NellWebbish]

09:57 AM on 02/18/2012

I don't believe the point is to make it "easier" for religious based institutes to get insurance.

[goldgoose]

06:16 PM on 03/01/2012

Religious based institutions be damned; employees are not necessarily indoctrinated with the same folklore beliefs of their employers. If employers provide health insurance for employees, they should provide health insurance for their employees and not discriminate between them base on the employer's own religious belief.

[budyboy6]

06:18 PM on 02/13/2012

Hey Obama, keep your politics out of religion.

[goldgoose]

06:18 PM on 03/01/2012

My President does not speak to citizens with religious bias, he only speaks politics and American democracy.

[trekie70]

04:58 PM on 02/13/2012

Glad to see at least one group in the CC is using their gray matter for something other than a paper weight.

[wak84]

04:57 PM on 02/15/2012

I worked with sisters from various orders for years--they have the most sense of anyone in the Church. If they were running the joint, it would be in a lot better shape.

[The last sane American]

07:28 PM on 02/16/2012

Just that this Sister spoke her opinion and not that of the organization to which she is affiliated.

And do you think the White House will walk that one back as well? They do not have a good record on that.

[dmessy]

12:15 AM on 02/20/2012

But they don't and that's the point. They need to get into line or get out from the Church. It's not their job to give an opinion.

[George Genung]

02:16 PM on 02/13/2012

The only people against the compromise is the OMINFHC (Old Men in Funny Hats Club), better known as the U.S. Catholic bishops and their dwindling followers. They are trying to become relevant again after being shown to be the Keystone Cops, or worse, RICO violators who paid out billions to protect their backsides.

[Robert Frano]

05:46 PM on 02/14/2012

Re: "...or worse, RICO violators who paid out billions to protect their backsides..." {George Genung}
To rape a child is a felony; To rape multiple children is R.I.C.O.-Felony by definition;
that is the legal & moral responsibility of the individual offender!

To protect even a single 'child or other' rapist from legal apprehension, by diocease-to-diocease-transfer, w/o even warning the new diocease, (let along an estimated 50,000 rapists, in the U.S. alone, over these past 30-50 years), is an episode of the 'Supranos'!

[The last sane American]

07:32 PM on 02/16/2012

So you are saying that there are 50,000 rapist priests in the USA.

41,406 is the total number all Catholic priests in the US . What are the other 9,000?

I think somebody just got a little tar on their own face

[ladywing]

12:43 PM on 02/13/2012

There was a reason why the founding Fathers separated church from State and we are seeing in played out today in this birth control fiasco.
The far right is using it as a political football with no regard to women's health.
It dovetails nicely with their agenda to refocus the dialogue onto sex in all it permutations and away from the economy, jobs and the struggle of the middle class and their pandering to wealthy corporations and individuals.

[The last sane American]

07:34 PM on 02/16/2012

"and away from the economy,"

FDLOL

[ladywing]

07:40 PM on 02/16/2012

Pathetic, desperate not dangerous.

[dmessy]

12:18 AM on 02/20/2012

Without regard to woman's health... really

so let me guess -- up to now none of these woman have been able to get contraceptives? Wow.. that's news to me because none of my teenage nieces appear to have much trouble.

These woman you're talking about must be completely inept.

[ladywing]

01:50 AM on 02/20/2012

Your reply is not pertinent to my post.

[groland]

09:23 AM on 02/13/2012

It is 1960 and the Republicans and Evangelical Protestants are up in arms over the Catholic Democratic candidate. They fear that he will take his directives from the Pope. JFK must assure the nation that his religion comes second and that he will not put Catholic doctrine over the welfare of the State.

It is now 2012 and Republicans and Evangelicals want Catholic Bishops to dictate our policies regarding health and employee benefits. How strange is this path?

[The last sane American]

07:37 PM on 02/16/2012

And I know you wont believe it since apparently all Democrats have been instructed to not listen to the other side but state the opposite of truth.

When will you people talk about American rights? Your total agenda is a WE vs THEY.

SAD.

[raker]

08:58 AM on 02/13/2012

Shame on Democrats for letting the church control the message on birth control. We should be talking about the virtual total consensus on the value of birth control, including among Catholics. We should be talking about how the church's anti-birth control position is rooted in fear of sex and the church's benefitting from generations of poor, ignorant, gigantic Catholic families. The church even opposes the use of condoms to prevent the spread of HIV because sex for pleasure is intolerable to them.

Catholic dogma is very bad for public health. It should count for nothing. Let the church compromise their inhuman policies and leave the rest of us safe from their weird superstitions.

[Robert Frano]

06:09 PM on 02/14/2012

Re: "Catholic dogma is very bad for public health..." {raker}

In the 1400's 'they' burnt men, woman, children and the ‘womb-confined’ alive;
...Semi-competitively! They called it ‘God's will'!

Now they settle for ‘passive genocide’, demanding ‘no condoms’ be used/claiming condoms don’t work, (a passive genocide/a ‘crime-against-humanity'-class lie vs an easyly tested reality), and...
'They' call it...God's will!

If any such blasphemous.bovine.waste had the slightest grain of truth to it, it presumably stands to reason that such a (sociopathic) Deity could just promote a 3rd. World War & be done with it!

...Hmmmm.
When one considers that NONE of the Catholic politicians screaming for war with.../lusting for petrochemical & real estate riches...re Iran, have been excommunicated, (to say nothing of Catholics involved with the ‘Iraq, etc.’ war-crimes, and/or, mobile abortificient systems, like Trident/Vanguard, B-2b/B-52d, etc.), unlike 'gay marrieds' & 'abortion-receiving' females...

Maybe 'their' Deity DOES intend to ‘call it a day’ where 'Homo.Sapien.Egotistes' is concerned!

Meanwhile…
Did you read that NY Daily News/NY Post headline of the other day...
where catholic cathedrals had so many sunday worshippers that they had to turn them away, (by order of the local fire marshal), due to ‘over-crowding’?

…Neither did I!

[prudencehall]

08:17 AM on 02/13/2012

Of course the Catholic Bishops are against President Obama's compromise. The Catholic Bishops LOVE that they're in the news for something other than molestation and they're not going to let go of the limelight. Bless Carol Keehan.

[Tamimi]

04:26 PM on 02/15/2012

lol good one :D

[Cacey]

08:38 PM on 02/12/2012

Gains support? Yah, like the 90% of catholic women who use birth control and their husbands.

[FedupMark]

07:39 PM on 02/12/2012

Thank you sister Carol Keehan. You certainly are a reasonable and responsible voice, unlike
the Bishops who continue to pursue their male-archy agenda that all women shall have no access to birth control. We will be watching to see how they respond to you on this issue. Unfortunately,
they and the pope have continued the policy that women are second class citizens. Frankly,
I hope for a revolution in the Catholic Church that will bring equality in all matters to women.

[Hillbilly49]

04:20 PM on 02/12/2012

President Obama has again chosen wisely; while being on the side of the Angels the entire time.