The C is for Crank
Obama Seems Receptive to Eliminating Birth Control Requirement
Catholic-affiliated and other religious institutions already have the ability, under Obama's new health-care standards, to opt out of a requirement that all insurers provide contraceptives to their employees without a deductible or co-pay.
But that exemption---generous, to my mind (should companies also be able to opt out of paying for prescriptions for erectile-dysfunction drugs, on the grounds that they promote immoral behavior, or refuse to pay for diabetes drugs for obese employees, or cancer treatment for smokers?)---isn't enough for the US Conference of Bishops and some Congressional Republicans.
Having already ensured that Obama's health care bill includes some of the most anti-abortion language seen in decades (federal funding already can't be used for abortions, but Obama signed an executive order last year extending the restriction to the newly created health insurance exchanges), the anti-choice lobby now wants to eliminate the contraception requirement entirely---because, apparently, unless women want babies they should just abstain from sex.
Unfortunately (though not surprisingly), Obama seems receptive to the bishops' request.
Last week, after a meeting with the President New York Catholic archbishop Timothy Dolan said he found Obama "very open to the sensitivities of the Catholic community and "left there feeling a bit more at peace about this issue than when I entered.”
Incidentally, 98 percent of Catholic women say they have used some form of birth control that is banned by the Catholic Church, which only allows the so-called rhythm method (periodic abstention). In other words, the bishops and their Republican allies---are trying to impose restrictions on women across the country that they can't even get their own church members to follow.
But that exemption---generous, to my mind (should companies also be able to opt out of paying for prescriptions for erectile-dysfunction drugs, on the grounds that they promote immoral behavior, or refuse to pay for diabetes drugs for obese employees, or cancer treatment for smokers?)---isn't enough for the US Conference of Bishops and some Congressional Republicans.
Having already ensured that Obama's health care bill includes some of the most anti-abortion language seen in decades (federal funding already can't be used for abortions, but Obama signed an executive order last year extending the restriction to the newly created health insurance exchanges), the anti-choice lobby now wants to eliminate the contraception requirement entirely---because, apparently, unless women want babies they should just abstain from sex.
Unfortunately (though not surprisingly), Obama seems receptive to the bishops' request.
Last week, after a meeting with the President New York Catholic archbishop Timothy Dolan said he found Obama "very open to the sensitivities of the Catholic community and "left there feeling a bit more at peace about this issue than when I entered.”
Incidentally, 98 percent of Catholic women say they have used some form of birth control that is banned by the Catholic Church, which only allows the so-called rhythm method (periodic abstention). In other words, the bishops and their Republican allies---are trying to impose restrictions on women across the country that they can't even get their own church members to follow.
