By snoadmin
In his 2010 health care plan, President Obama included a regulation mandating employers to provide free contraception for their female employees. That did not sit well with the Catholic Church. The church does not approve of using birth control so mandating private religious schools and church-owned hospitals to provide contraception to employees was a huge issue. In light of the blowback from religious groups and leaders, Obama amended the policy.
Under the revised policy, employers will no longer have to provide free contraceptives to their female employers. Instead, that responsibility will fall upon the insurers.
Despite Obama’s amendment, religious leaders are still against the policy and believe Obama is interfering with their religious teachings.
President Obama has already amended his policy to compromise with the Catholic Church, but for some reason, people are still unhappy. Truthfully, this should not be looked at as a religion-versus-government issue. This is an issue about women’s health and that should not be up for debate. Obama made the right choice by fixing his policy and any objections made by religious groups are needless troublemaking.
The main argument churches had against the free birth control plan was that it violated their religious beliefs. But Obama already handled that issue by taking the responsibility out of the churches’ hands and passing it off to insurers.
An article in the Los Angeles Times stated that administrative officials believe the new policy would benefit women at no cost to the insurers. So it is really a win-win situation. The cost of pregnancy, which includes ultrasounds, regular physicals and other doctor visits, is significantly more expensive than providing birth control for employees. And despite what the Catholic Church teaches, there is always the possibility that an unwanted pregnancy will end in an abortion. Giving birth control to employees will help prevent that.
This whole situation calls to mind the issue with Planned Parenthood from just a couple weeks ago. The Komen Foundation announced that it would stop funding Planned Parenthood only to take back the statement just a few days later.
Komen came under huge public scrutiny after declaring to end its partnership with Planned Parenthood and there should be a similar dissent in this situation. There is no logical reason for anyone to deny women birth control, especially in this case where the program would not be receiving any money from churches or church-affiliated groups.
Just having the service does not mean that the government is giving women a free pass to be promiscuous. The plan is simply giving women the means to protect themselves. There is nothing wrong with that. This plan will not trigger a skyrocketing need for contraceptives. Just because free birth control is available, does not mean all women will use it. It is just a precaution.
Truthfully, it is easy to understand why religious groups did not like Obama’s previous policy. The Catholic Church does not sanction the use of birth control, so their reaction was valid.
But, this new policy completely cut the church out, so there really is not an issue anymore. Obama most likely amended the plan in an attempt to please as many people as he can to benefit his reelection campaign, but there is not really anything wrong with that. The plan helps protect women and their health. The Catholic Church should not have an issue with that.
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