Denying health care to women
is a First Amendment right.
It says so in the Bible.
Last month, the Obama administration
announced that it was going forward with its new rule, under the Affordable Care Act, requiring health insurers to cover contraception without co-pays, as
recommended by the Institute of Medicine, a move
resisted by Catholic bishops and other Church leaders across the country, who have been complaining that this somehow violates their religious freedom.
Today, on MSNBC's Morning Joe, Obama adviser David Axelrod said that the administration is still trying "to find a resolution that makes sense" to these Church leaders, that it wants to "resolve it in an appropriate way," and that it wants to "work through these issues in a thoughtful way."
This, despite the fact that the administration has, for months, been working with the Catholic leaders who are outraged—outraged!—that women in this country will be receiving full, comprehensive health care through their insurers.
Church leaders started whining last year that being forced to provide health care to women oppressed their First Amendment right to deny health care to women. And so, for the next several months, the Obama administration hemmed and hawed about whether to implement the new policy, as promised, thanks in no small part to the lie repeated by the bishops, Republicans, and even supposedly liberal commentators like E.J. Dionne at the Washington Post that such a decision would alienate the president's Catholic supporters.
The claim was nonsense, of course, as a majority of Americans supported the new rule, and polling has shown that a majority of Catholics also support coverage of contraception. That's no surprise, given that 98 percent of sexually active Catholic women have used contraception.
The fact that a majority of Americans—and a majority of Catholics—supports such coverage hasn't stopped Republicans from claiming that the administration is waging a war on religion. It's an especially convenient talking point for the anti-woman men who are running for president this year.
But contraception coverage isn't a partisan issue, and except for the leaders of the Church, it's not a religious issue either. Americans of all religions like having sex, and they like using contraception, and they especially like the newest provision of the ACA that contraception should be accessible and affordable. That's bad news for Rick Santorum, who doesn't even want married couples to use contraception because he thinks married couples should only have sex for procreation, not for, you know, pleasure.
And it's bad news for Mitt Romney, who has recently jumped on the "Obama's being mean to Catholics" bandwagon.
And it's bad news for Newt "I believe marriage is between a man and a woman and then another woman and then another woman" Gingrich, whose own sins—according to his religious beliefs—have already gained him a seat in hell (except, of course, that he's promised to sin no more), but who nonetheless is also using this decision to falsely accuse the president of a "war on religion."
Covering contraception is the right thing to do. It's what Americans want. It's what Catholics want. It's what women want. And that's why the president needs to continue to stand with them instead of the tiny group of people who are complaining because they either want to try to take Obama's job or because they've got one hell of a bizarre interpretation of the Bible and the Constitution.
We hope the Obama administration doesn't change its position and continues to do the right thing.
Send an email to the White House and tell President Obama to stand firm on requiring all health insurers to cover contraception without co-pays.