The Obama Administration is set to battle with the Catholic Church over new rules that would require religious organizations to provide birth control, something called 'abortion producing' drugs and cover sterilization procedures for all their employees.
The Church, needless to say is pissed.
The President, thus far, seems to be holding firm.
This is kind of a tough one for me. I personally think that the Catholic Church's position on birth control is arcane beyond belief and utterly useless when faced with the realities of modern life today. It also contravenes the original spirit of Pope Paul's Encyclical Humane Vitae which officially disapproved of birth control yet put the decision firmly in the matter of the conscience of the individual, where, in my opinion, it belongs. So I can't say I'm totally unhappy about this.
Yet it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Both President Obama and his predecessor have been busily seeking to grab as much executive power as possible back- reversing a trend that's been around since Nixon nearly crashed the whole damn thing- I don't like executive overreach, no matter that party and ultimately, while the Church shouldn't be dictating on matters it should know nothing about- (if you want to talk to me, have sex. Otherwise, I take no lectures from celibate anybody-) and should leave these decisions up to the conscience of the individual, where they belong- I have to come down on their side on this one. I don't want the government dictating things like this.
That said, I do think there's a limit to religious freedom. If you're a devout Catholic (a lot of Catholics I know freely use birth control btw. Ignoring the Vatican, especially when it makes especially arcane, idiotic pronouncements is part and parcel of being a certain rebellious flavor of Catholic) and you work at Walgreens and try to tell me you have the right to refuse to distribute birth control, well, I'm sorry no. And no, you don't get to lecture me either. I'm giving you money, you better give me the damn pills and thank the Good Lord you're employed- because a lot of people aren't- and even more people aren't making $90K a year as a Pharmacist. So those 'Pharmacists For Religious Freedom'? Yeah, they can go suck it.
It's all about finding a balance. For the Church, this is a matter of principle. For the Administration, it's about asserting the Federal Government's right to mandate what gets covered and what doesn't in the field of health care. It's a preview of some very dicey coming Constitutional attractions over the course of the next few years- but I do think if the Hierarchy expects millions of Catholics to pour into the streets over birth control, they're in for a very big surprise.
In this debate it is important to point out that churches themselves are exempt from this rule. The issue is Catholic hospitals and Universities, which presumably have a large number of non-Catholic employees. I like Rachel Maddow's "Amish Bus Driver" argument. If you are a (non church) employer providing health insurance, you have to provide for contraceptives, because that's just part of comprehensive health care these days.
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