I MAY not be as theologically sophisticated as American bishops, but I had thought that Jesus talked more about helping the poor than about banning contraceptives.
So begins the Sunday
New York Times column by Nicholas Kristof, which you can read
here.
He points out why the insurance issue matters, that
for many Americans living on the edge, it’s a borderline luxury.
He offers data from the Guttmacher Institute that should frighten people, about women putting off gynecological visits, of not taking birth control pills every day because of cost, of relying upon condoms.
The cost of birth control is one reason poor women are more than three times as likely to end up pregnant unintentionally as middle-class women.
In short, birth control is not a frill that can be lightly dropped to avoid offending bishops. Coverage for contraception should be a pillar of our public health policy — and, it seems to me, of any faith-based effort to be our brother’s keeper, or our sister’s.
And, quoting from figures from Guttemacher,
consider that every dollar that the United States government spends on family planning reduces Medicaid expenditures by $3.74
That last point alone should remind us that allowing the Catholic bishops to dictate is costing the rest of us money.
We learn the Christian Science Monitor, published under the auspices of a religion which does not believe in normal medical care offers "a standard health insurance package" to its employees.
Have I got your attention?
There is more.
But just let me offer Kristo'f final words:
If we have to choose between bishops’ sensibilities and women’s health, our national priority must be the female half of our population.
I agree.
What about you?