Daily Kos days "a tiny handful of very angry men, especially Catholic bishops, have been shrieking that Obama is waging a war on religion and it will be the end of freedom as we know it." What Daily Kos is commenting on is the contretemps that has arisen between President Obama and the U.S. Catholic bishops, with the Re;publican establishment weighing in to equate women's use of contraceptives with abortion.
The base of this brewing battle is the federal rule that extends all preventive services, including contraceptive services, to women who are insured through their employers. The rule, which explicitly exempts churches, requires those employers with more than 50 employees, who offer health insurance to their employees, to cover all preventive care without charge to the insured.
The Institute of Medicine has found that contraceptive services are preventive services because contraception prevents so much maternal, infant and fetal illness and death. Around the world, more than a quarter of a million lives are saved each year by the availability of modern contraception.
In an op-ed in the February 11, 2012 Albuquerque Journal, Robert Schwartz, professor of law at the University of New Mexico, lays out the absurdity of the position taken by the Catholic bishops and their surrogates in one concise sentence: "Even when their employees are paid by taxpayer funding, as many are, and even when the church-run enterprises get a hefty government subsidy through their tax-exempt status, as almost all do, some religious employers insist that they have a First Amendment right to control the morality of the medical and sexual decision-making their employees do after work." U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand struck a strong nerve in the general public when she commented that women should not have their medical decisions made by their bosses.
Professor Schwartz sees the controversy as pitting protection of public health against protection of religious doctrine. He notes that since it upheld the constitutionality of the government-mandated smallpox vaccine, the U.S. Supreme Court has recognized that religious beliefs are outweighed by the health of the public when such a balance is undertaken.
There are significant weaknesses in the position of the Catholic bishops and those who have joined them in making contraception a First Amendment issue of religious freedom. A number of the major Catholic institutions, such as Georgetown University, Catholic University and DePaul University offer contraceptive coverage. According to the ACLU and other sources, 98 percent of Catholic women have used contraception at some point in their lives. A poll of self-identified Catholics found that 58 percent support contraception insurance coverage. It is also the case that the major Catholic institutions employ people of all faiths. A further curious fault line in the position of the bishops is that 28 states follow the same birth control rule as enunciated by President Barack Obama.
The radio talk show host Bill Press has pointed out that in 2000 the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission set as policy that if insurance covers Viagra for men, it must also cover women's contraceptives. Also, Press notes that the same policy on contraception as under Obama was in effect under George W. Bush, and the Republicans did not raise a ruckus.
As the controversy has swirled, President Obama announced an "accommodation" whereby religious institutions will not be responsible for providing birth control; however, women employed by organizations such as Catholic hospitals, schools or universities will be able to get contraceptives without charge from their insurance companies. CNN News has called this a back-pedal by Obama. Rep. Rosa Delauro (D-Conn), who supported Obama's original statement on the contraception issue, now fully backs his "accommodation."
There is some concern that non-religious employers will see an opening to drop contraception coverage for their employees on the grounds that it violates their consciences.
Michael Tomasky of the Daily Beast has raised questions about Obama shortcomings in the contraceptive matter: he may have consulted insufficiently with the bishops and even Catholic progressives and administration supporters; he may have believed that political actors won't deal with him in bad faith; he may be too aloof and solitary to rely on advice; and he may demand too little of his staff. The Obama is playing chess and the GOP is playing checkers school has raised the possibility that the White House deliberately created this controversy to show how unwilling the bishops are to compromise and how fanatical many Republicans are about denying women assistance in birth control.
What stands out in this contraception controversy is the degree to which the U.S. Catholic bishops are obsessed with sex. The Catholic Church was against the war in Iraq; it is against capital punishment; and it is for the eradication of poverty. However, the bishops really get up in arms when the subjects of abortion and birth control become prominent in the public discourse. It was in 1968 that the Catholic Church declared the use of contraceptives to be immoral.
A central irony of the uproar over contraceptives is that there was fear that John F. Kennedy might run his presidency in accordance with Catholic doctrine but now it is a non-Catholic President Obama who is leaning over backward to please the Catholic hierarchy.
The controversy over contraception may have been avoided if President Obama had pushed hard for a single-payer system instead of the hybrid health care legislation now subject to serious legal challenge.
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