United Liberty
Missing the point on the contraception mandate
Fri, 02/10/2012 - 3:06pm | posted by Brian Lehman
Over the past few weeks there has been much discussion of the Obama Administration’s decision to mandate that even organizations associated with the Catholic Church cover contraception. This has raised the ire of many on the right, who view this mandate as an assault on religious freedom. Since the Catholic Church does not believe in using contraception, they argue, forcing them to cover it means they must violate their consciences. Leaving aside the details, one thing is clear to me - the critics of the mandate are almost without exception missing the larger point.
The contraception mandate is awful, for sure, but not because it is an “assault on religion.” It is wrong because the government has no business telling ANYONE what they must cover. The mandate would be wrong whether it was inflicted on a Catholic group, or a secular one. And to be honest, I don’t think that religion is even a major factor in the decision to establish the mandate. It is born out of a belief that there is some imaginary “right” to free health care, including contraception. That is the true abomination.
Furthermore, why is there outrage only now? Is it somehow okay to force non-Catholics to pay for other’s health care? I understand this involves an issue of great moral importance to Catholics. But is a federal mandate more wrong because it goes against a religious teaching? I say this because many, including myself, do not subscribe to a religion, or belong to one without much political clout. It is disturbing that somehow my liberty is not worth as much because I am in a minority and I don’t have groups lobbying on my behalf.
All liberty is important, and I by no means mean to diminish the outrage that Catholics feel here. Their anger is justified and entirely valid. I just hope to express that liberty matters whether it is religious liberty or just a desire to be left alone. My moral objections are just as strong and valid. Let’s not forget that the root of the problem is a massive, overreaching government that sees fit to extend its tentacles into all areas of life.
Wow. It’s official. You people are nuts. Nothing satisfies you. You hate women and logic equally.
How do you interpret this to hating women? Just because you don’t believe in forcing down one group’s throat, it doesn’t mean you hate another group.
Hating women…what? Opposing government-run or government-managed health care is the exact opposite of that. It’s government control over health care which is anti-woman, indeed anti-humanity.
Look, when you give the state control over health care you instantly politicize the entire system. Health care isn’t free, someone has to pay for it, and in this case it’s the rest of “society”. You really no longer have the right to make your own decisions about your own body…because it’s controlled through the state “society” now has a say in what health services you get. Because people aren’t all the same, and they have different moral beliefs, there just might be a little conflict about what type of health services should be provided. Maybe some people think that blood transfusions are morally unacceptable and don’t want anything to do with funding them. Maybe some people have unhealthy habits…well, why should us healthy folks have to subsidize these fatsos and smokers and alcoholics. Every individual’s health is now a direct concern of the state, since, after all, individual healthcare is funded with taxpayer money. Let’s decide which moral code the state should support by mandating that certain types of coverage are provided by the healthcare system. Let’s just legislate away these unhealthy behaviors to save some costs. It’s for the good of “society”. In a world with government control over healthcare, you literally don’t have the right to do what you want with your own body. You are owned by the state. You want to have another child…too bad. One per family.
I’d much rather live in a world where there was no government involvement in health care, and it wasn’t tied to employment (the other big problem with the American system). People could buy the services they wanted and not have to subsidize medical practices that they were opposed to. You would have total and complete freedom and control over your own health. There’s nothing remotely “anti-woman” about that.
I am a Catholic and agree with the writer that accepting Obama’s conscience clause for us but looking the other way while he bullies non-Catholics is unfair.
I am reminded of a story in the Book of Maccabees. When the greeks took over Jerusalem they decreed that all jews must publicly eat pork or die. One old man, Eleazar by name, refused. Not wanting to kill the old man yet needing to save face, the greek tyrant suggested that Eleazar eat some other kind of meat but pretend it was pork. Everybody would be happy. Eleazar could keep his life and his dietary code and the greeks could appear to win. Rather than send the wrong message to younger jews, Eleazar spurned the tyrant’s conscience clause and chose death instead. I hope the Bishops turn down Obama’s shameful offer as insulting to them and unfair to non-Catholic groups who don’t have the same political clout to take on the administration. This indeed steps on our rights as religious people in a special way. But it would also offend me even if I were not Catholic. The tyrant has no right telling any American that he must buy anything.
Maybe we are all just nuts.
Some people just like to listen to them selves rant and rave because they have nothing better to do.
Samantha Briggs
http://www.samanthablog.co.nz
http://www.tmjcauses.com
Realistically, in a modern welfare state, there is no conceivable way to completely remove the costs of caring for others. The real choices are two, namely either offer the poor free or heavily discounted contraceptives, at a cost of several pennies, or offer their unwanted children, and those children’s unwanted children, the cradle to grave support of the modern state, at a cost of several million dollars. It’s fairly clear what the sensible choice is. Free contraceptives are an incredibly cheap and effective way to cure a plethora of problems with modern society.
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