When President Obama announced that because of health care reform, birth control would soon be available for free in new insurance plans, you would have expected universal approval.
After all, virtually all women, including 98 percent of Catholic women, have used birth control at some point in their lives and 71 percent of American voters, including 77 percent of Catholic women voters, support this policy.
That is why I was stunned to read E.J. Dionne's column in the Washington Post today denouncing a decision that should instead be lauded, especially by those of us who care about religious freedom, women's health, and economic fairness.
The truth is, the president's decision respects the diverse religious views of the American people, who deserve the right to follow their own conscience and choose whether to obtain contraceptives, regardless of where they work. And that is what this policy guarantees -- with one carefully drawn exception. This decision respects the deeply-held views of religious institutions. If their mission is primarily religious and the majority of their employees and clients share that faith, religious institutions do not have to provide contraceptive coverage to their employees.
So, despite what his critics claim, the president's policy does in fact respect religious freedom. In addition, opponents of this policy shockingly ignore the facts: that it will reduce the number of unintended pregnancies and abortions in our country -- a goal I thought we all shared.
The president followed the advice of the Institute of Medicine and other independent medical experts who recommended that health plans cover preventive services that women cannot afford to miss, including annual exams, HIV screening and, yes, contraception. These experts know the truth: The best way to prevent unintended pregnancies and reduce the number of abortions is to make birth control more accessible to women and men. Period. Without birth control, a couple has an 85 percent chance of having an unintended pregnancy within a year.
Finally, this decision will help working families by giving them access to free birth control. The cost of birth control can be prohibitive for many women, particularly in these difficult economic times. In fact, 34 percent of women voters report having struggled with the cost of prescription birth control. Surprisingly, Dionne glosses over the crucial issue of cost by recommending that the President simply require plans that won't cover birth control to tell their employees where else they can buy it. He dismisses it as a "modest cost." Well, tell that to the woman making minimum wage and struggling to buy groceries for her children -- paying an extra $600 a year for birth control pills is a major expense for her, not a "modest cost."
Improving access to affordable birth control is not a controversial issue for the American people, the vast majority of whom support family planning. The president's decision should bring all sides together because it will help millions of women and their families. Certainly, that is a policy worthy of our praise.
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Pay for your own.
First it was the Jews, next it was the Catholics does anyone with a mind think this won't affect them?
(speaking of what distinguishes Christians from pagans):"They marry, as do all others; they beget children but they do not destroy their offspring" (literally 'cast away fetuses').
From the Didache
"You shall not destroy your conceptions before they are brought forth; nor kill them after they are born".
From St. Clement
"Those who use abortificants commit homicide"
From St. Basil the Great
"The woman who purposely destroys her unborn child is guilty of murder. The hair-splitting difference between formed and unformed makes no difference to us".
From St. Augustine
"Sometimes their sadistic licentiousness goes so far that they procure poison to produce infertility, and when this is of no avail, they find one means or another to destroy the unborn and flush it from the mother's womb. For they desire to see their offspring perish before it is alive or, if it has already been granted life, they seek to kill it within the mother's body before it is born".
From St. John Chrysostom
"Why do you sow where the field is eager to destroy the fruit? Where there are medicines of sterility? Where there is murder before birth? You do not even let a harlot remain only a harlot, but you make her a murderess as well. Do you condemn the gifts of God, and fight with His laws? .
What I mean by responsibility is that "...the woman making minimum wage and struggling to buy groceries for her children..." probably shouldn't be having sex.
Birth control is not 100% effective even when used properly. For methods like sterilization and implants, the failure rate is around 1%. For condoms and the pill, the typical (includes average user error) failure rate is around 15-20%. So even with contraception, every 5-7 times the average person has sex, their contraceptive will fail. If you can barely afford to feed yourself/partner/children, you're playing a very dangerous game of Russian roulette.
The deeper issue at hand is that years of influence by the media and pop culture has created a rather promiscuous society. People in general regard sex as something to do for fun instead of viewing it as a very intimate and precious expression of love between two responsible, loving adults. That is why many believe sex should be reserved until marriage. A married couple has already made a very large commitment to one another and they are (usually) ready to make the next step.
And birth control isn't health care? Funny, I took birth control pills for years to control a specific medical condition, even though that condition would have prevented me from carrying a pregnancy to term even if I had managed to get pregnant. And there are women who literally could die as a result of pregnancy - you don't think birth control is part of their health care? Or should they just never have sex again?
Where I come from, birth control is free (Berkeley, CA). We still have tortured and abused kids.
used birth control...", and "...77% of Catholic women voters..." support the policies of the Anti-Christ....
If those "numbers" are factual , they DO NOT signify the position of "Catholic women", because the
Catholic Church (it is well known) does not support birth-control. Those women who practice &/or
support birth-control, if they have (in reality) been Catholic are presently in excommunicado-ipso facto.
(or man) who engages/believes in any activity &/or precept which is in diametric
opposition to the Rules, Laws & Teachings of the Catholic Church is in Heresy -
and so is excluded (by their own action) from membership in The Church.
Whether or not you give a hoot about anything, you will have to make an accoun-
ting of your life "....to da JUDGE..." when you are separated from the living.
Bottom line: Isn't it just nice to know our liberal "big brother" is in the business of dictating what private insurance must do, and not do.
BTW Senator, nothing is "free"....we will all pay for it whether we like it or not in the ever growing premiums Obamacare has already shown to cause.
For women contraception is usually a lot more than just picking up a box of condoms at the grocery store. There is a reason why there is a big specialty out there called "gynecolgy". Contraception for women often involves visits to the doctor. Therefore, it should be covered by health insurance.
Insurance is paying to cover eventualities that one hopes never happens. I am 60 years old and, thankfully, I have not had to use my insurance in any major way. I have paid many thousands of dollars for health insurance over the years as well as for home, auto and life insurance. I have probably paid a lot more than I have ever received in benefits. Despite that I will continue to pay them and, I say in all sincerity, that I hope that, execpt for routine doctor vists and procedures, I never collect most of that money back in benefits. However, if something does happen, I will want it covered. I want that for myself and I want that for everyone else.
For those who are offended that they will be required to pay for unwanted contraception insurance as part of their plan, what about our having to pay for the obstetrical and hospital insurance costs that WILL ALSO be covered in the cases of the "unplanned" pregnancies resulting from the refusal to use presecription contraceptives as part of a family planning program? In both situations, it's part of the price of providing the [almost] universal health coverage this country so desperately needs.
It's amazing to see how these two supposed sides (which don't really exist, most people have mixed feelings and viewpoints on a variety of issues, and those viewpoints change over time) demonize each other and are so blind to their own erroneous reasoning. I can easily take the word "Liberal" as used in one of these posts and replace it with Conservative to get this sentence instead:
"Conservatives are so hypocriticÂal when it comes to choice. It is choice until they disagree with it and then its a federal mandate."
For example: Conservatives say they want small government, but not if it's for issues they support. They're fine with a bloated military and having the Federal government raid state-approved medical marijuana facilities, etc. So many of these statements can have right/left or Liberal/Conservative interchanged. People are being blinded by their erroneous sense of self-rightness and the erroneous sense of wrongness of "the other side."
I would suggest everyone calm down, get off your high horse, realize we all want very similar things in life and try this ego-busting, enlightening exercise: take "the other sides" point of view and argue for their case. Do it SINCERELY. Even if it's just in the privacy of your thoughts.
No doubt the thought of doing so brings up feelings of fear or resentment. All the more reason to do so. At the very least, you might find "the other side" are not a bunch of stupid/evil/corrupt/irresponsible troublemakers. (They are human beings, your fellow human beings, and in this case, your fellow Americans. They love their families as you do. They want peace and an abundant life as you do.) At the most, you might find your concrete views softened enough to allow for real dialogue and you will stop being the source of the problem (unceasing conflict) and part of the solution (creative, cooperative thinking and communication) . If we don't stop this violent verbal barrage and fake polarizing of the country, things are going to get worse and worse.
The answer is not for one of these fictional sides to win, the answer is for us to learn to live together respectfully (if not lovingly) and create a brilliant society for all with the incredible human resources we have at our disposal. This begins with open minds and respectful, open dialogue. It begins with caring more about everyone's wellbeing than your own point of view. It begins with letting go the idea that you have to be right. Being right won't make you happy. Loving and being loved will.
Please read the entire article before spouting uninformed nonsense.