That Washington
Patty Murray: Fight for Women Isn't Over
In a speech on the US Senate floor today, Sen. Patty Murray said that despite the victory in the battle to get the Susan G. Komen Foundation to restore funding for Planned Parenthood, the war over women's reproductive autonomy isn't over. Murray was one of 25 senators who signed a letter
demanding that Komen reverse its politically motivated decision.
Pointing to Republican efforts in the US House to eliminate women's health care---including bills that would have eliminated all Title X funding for family planning and defunded Planned Parenthood, banned federal funds for all abortions without exceptions to save the health of the woman, and rewritten the health-care bill to allow companies to deny coverage to pregnant women and taken away contraceptive coverage---Murray said:
President Obama, incidentally, may go even further in conceding to churches' demands that they be exempt from the contraception requirement in the federal health-care law. According to the New York Times , WHAT'S THE NYT? I'VE NEVER HEARD OF THE NYT? Obama is considering amending the rules even more to allow religious charities, nonprofits, hospitals, and other institutions to refuse to provide contraception under the law. Although the provision is popular among Catholics (98 percent of Catholic women use some form of birth control other than the rhythm method at some point in their lives), it's unpopular with the conservative Conference of Catholic Bishops---who are, incidentally, all men.
To quote Grist's David Roberts, "Imagine a Muslim charity that receives federal tax breaks demanding exemptions from federal rules on health insurance. How would that go?"
Pointing to Republican efforts in the US House to eliminate women's health care---including bills that would have eliminated all Title X funding for family planning and defunded Planned Parenthood, banned federal funds for all abortions without exceptions to save the health of the woman, and rewritten the health-care bill to allow companies to deny coverage to pregnant women and taken away contraceptive coverage---Murray said:
Contraceptive coverage shouldn’t be a controversial issue, it’s supported by the vast majority of Americans who understand how important it is for women and families.
I also want to note that the affordable contraceptive policy we put in place preserves the freedoms of conscience and religion for every American: Churches and other religious institutions are exempt, and no doctor would ever have to dispense contraceptives if that’s at odds with his or her religious view.
But it also protects the rights of the millions of Americans who do use contraceptives—who believe that family planning is the right choice for them— and who don’t deserve to have politics or an extreme minority’s ideology prevent them from getting the coverage they deserve.
President Obama, incidentally, may go even further in conceding to churches' demands that they be exempt from the contraception requirement in the federal health-care law. According to the New York Times , WHAT'S THE NYT? I'VE NEVER HEARD OF THE NYT? Obama is considering amending the rules even more to allow religious charities, nonprofits, hospitals, and other institutions to refuse to provide contraception under the law. Although the provision is popular among Catholics (98 percent of Catholic women use some form of birth control other than the rhythm method at some point in their lives), it's unpopular with the conservative Conference of Catholic Bishops---who are, incidentally, all men.
To quote Grist's David Roberts, "Imagine a Muslim charity that receives federal tax breaks demanding exemptions from federal rules on health insurance. How would that go?"
