contraception

Think Progress points out an interesting tidbit on Romneycare:

As governor, Romney greatly expanded access publicly-financed contraception through his 2006 health care reform law. The state’s Commonwealth Care, established under Romneycare, offers subsidized, low or no-cost insurance to low-income residents and provides primary and preventive care that includes “family planning services” and prescription contraceptives. In 2005, Romney also “signed a bill that could expand the number of people who get family-planning services, including the morning-after pill” and asked the Department of Health and Human Services to require Catholic hospitals to issue the morning after pill to rape victims.

In fact, the Obamacare rule Romney is now characterizing as an affront to religious liberties is very similar to a 2002 state law he tacitly supported. Like more than two dozen states across the country, Massachusetts required insurers that provide outpatient benefits to cover hormone replacement therapy and all FDA-approved contraceptive methods — well before Obamacare became law. The Massachusetts rule exempts “an employer that is a church or qualified church-controlled organization” from the mandate, but prohibits institutions such as hospitals, universities, and nursing homes from denying their employees birth control coverage.

But in the illogical mind of a Republican, words speak louder than actions. Romney DID this, but he says he wouldn't now, so they believe him. I mean it's not like the guy would profit off aborted fetuses, or would he?

Over the past several years we have seen churches throwing themselves more into the political landscape. Today we see it even more:

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Wednesday that she didn’t consult with the Catholic bishops on the latest version of the contraceptive coverage rule.

At a Senate Finance Committee hearing on the Obama administration’s budget request, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) pressed Sebelius on which constituencies the administration consulted before announcing its changes to the contraception rule.

“I did not speak with the Catholic bishops,” Sebelius told Hatch. “I know that the president has spoken to the bishops on several occasions, yes.”

The church views the separation clause as one way; the state can't tell the church what to do, but the church can tell the state what to do. This is not how our founding fathers envisioned it and is a very real danger to our democracy. Actually, if you think about it, it's bringing us closer to the same type of tyranny that the pilgrims fled England from all those centuries ago.

So I say it's time to remove that whole clause and make the church play by the same rules as everyone else. They have already pushed the envelope for too long and it's time for a change.

Not that this is really shocking news, but it does deserve repeating:

U.S. states whose residents have more conservative religious beliefs on average tend to have higher rates of teenagers giving birth, a new study suggests.

The relationship could be due to the fact that communities with such religious beliefs (a literal interpretation of the Bible, for instance) may frown upon contraception, researchers say. If that same culture isn't successfully discouraging teen sex, the pregnancy and birth rates rise.

Of course to the crazies on the right, this is all part of some big master plan to turn Americans off of religion.

The objective of this study? To convince college-educated middle-class people that religious faith is the No. 1 force for evil in the modern world. "OMG! If we let our daughter go to church, kiss Vassar good-bye!"

I must have missed the meeting that covered ways to blame others on the short fallings of your own beliefs. Perhaps that was the week my secret decoder ring was broken and I couldn’t get into the secret meeting where we all plan on ways to destroy the right. Will someone email me the minutes? Encode them in the obamasparentsplannedonhimbeingpresidentandstarteddecievinganationabouthisbirthalmost50yearsago format.

From Planned Parenthood:

Over the past 72 hours, a 21-year-old woman in Florida was raped, jailed on an outstanding warrant (for a 2003 juvenile arrest), and blocked from taking emergency contraception because a jail worker had "religious objections" to the medication. This is an absolute outrage.

According to the St. Petersburg Times,

"A doctor had given her Plan B, the so-called ‘morning-after pill' approved by the FDA, to prevent pregnancy. But Moore [her attorney] said a medical supervisor at the jail refused to let her take the second of the two pills on Sunday."

The woman was not allowed to take the second pill until Monday afternoon. For emergency contraception to work, the second pill must be taken within 12 hours. This woman was refused for 36. Only after media inquiries did the jail allow the woman to take the second pill. After surviving assault and rape, this woman was denied access to the care she needed and deserved. This is clear violation of a woman's right to make her own health care decisions.

Yet how dare those Muslim cab drivers refuse to transport people with alcohol because of "religous objections". So how much of a hypocrite was Jesus? If there really is a Hell, then everyone of these fuckers will certainly burn in it. If they don't then send me there because Heaven must be really fucked up!