Why on earth would a president alienate a portion of his base — Catholic Democrats — at this critical juncture by ruling that church-affiliated hospitals and schools provide health insurance for its employees that includes “all FDA-approved forms of contraception”? Because he’s pandering to his main base, that’s why. Feminists can get an administration to do just about anything they want.
Not that it took much to pressure this president — Obama’s a “sister” if there ever was one. He and his administration insist the ruling is to prevent discrimination against women. Women who work for Catholic institutions, they say, don’t have coverage for birth control or other contraceptive measures. Well, duh: They work for a Catholic institution. I can’t imagine they ever thought they would have such coverage. Demanding a Catholic organization support birth control and abortifacients is like demanding a Jewish organization not honor the Sabbath.
This latest ruling should be a wake-up call to Catholics who insist on burying their heads in the sand in support of the Democratic party. If the term “Catholic Democrat” wasn’t an oxymoron 50 years ago, it certainly is now. No Catholic in good conscience can vote for a party that prays to the altar of abortion and insists the Catholic Church do the same. It’s preposterous. “The Catholic hierarchy seems to be playing a cynical game of chicken, and they don’t seem to care that the health and well-being of millions of American women are what’s at stake here,” said National Abortion Rights Action League New York president Andrea Miller.
Wake up, Catholic Democrats: Your party is a machine with a feminist engine. Catholics, as a whole, are conservative — and there are very few conservative minds left in the Democratic party. I’m sorry it’s taken this latest move from the White House to drive home such a critical point.
But if this is what it takes to turn every Catholic in America into a Republican or independent, perhaps it’s worth it.
— Suzanne Venker is co-author of the book The Flipside of Feminism: What Conservative Women Know – and Men Can’t Say. Her website is www.suzannevenker.com.
It's not about a 15 dollar a month birth control pill (available for free at some clinics and county health departments). It's about forcing people who oppose to pay for it. And beyond that, it's about codifying the universal coverage of something called Birth Control, Contraceptives, or Women's Health. These nebulous words and phrases can then, in the future, be made to include Abortion outright.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"It's not about a 15 dollar a month birth control pill (available for free at some clinics and county health departments). It's about forcing people who oppose to pay for it."
I very much doubt that there is a Catholic institution in America that has to pay for contraceptive devices. Like other preventative methods, insurance companies are happy to abosorb the cost of contraception and provide them as part of the plan, as it is a money-saver for them in the long run.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseCatholic instutions like the rest of us serfs must pay for insurance plans with provisions we do not agree for. We have lost all choice on the matter. The only question is whether we are willing to go to jail or pay fines.
Nothing has prevented women from getting contraception as they see fit. The same is true for men. Forcing religious organizations to purchase plans and thereby subsidize things that are against their religion is an anathema. Sadly, we are so far along the road to serfdom that people don't recognize this. And many who do are so pious to their faiths of secular liberalism, if not Cultural Marxism and free sex that they don't care.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIt doesn't alienate most Catholics. Most Catholics support the administration in this. The only ones really opposed to Catholic institutions offering basic insurance, and allowing employees to make their own decisions about their medical care, free from their employer's coercion (the same kind of insurance they are already offering in the 28 states with identical mandates--apparently, their consciences weren't stirred by this until they saw a perceived political advantage).
Frankly, I think the Catholic Church should be more concerned with monitoring the intimate behavior of their priests, before they start trying to regulate the reproductive decisions made by the nurses in their hospitals.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWake up, catholic Democrats: the church is a machine run by men who make up rules and doctrine to keep the faithful under control--rules that aren't the inspiration of god or jesus.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI think the only thing that explains this policy is that Obama knows very well how much he depends on Catholic voters. I think he and his more radical advisers saw this as a chance to push an even bigger wedge between many Catholics and the Church.
Many Catholics voted for Obama even though he is probably the most radically pro-abortion politician in the country. And he is acutely aware of polls that show "98% of Catholic women use birth control." Forget for now the likelihood these polls are is false. (I doubt 98% of Catholic women even engage in intercourse, given factors of age, marital status, infirmity etc.).
Obama and his radical supporters may be using this as a chance to force progressive Catholics to finally make a choice between their Church, and their lifestyle. The problem is that most Catholics are default progressives, they aren't true believers. They are progressive because the people and culture around them are. Many of them actually hold conservative moral beliefs, even those who don;t live according to them.
What Obama has done is force Catholics (even the progressive bishops) to stop and think about what they really believe, and to make a choice. I think he is going to be disappointed by the results.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseBut a Republican Catholic can in good conscience support a party that's in favor of the death penalty, torture, and unessesary wars that result in high numbers of civilian deaths? I think the Catholic's decision is a little more difficult than you make it out to be.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseBeing conservative Lutheran, not Roman Catholic, the problem is that our stable of conservatives tends to be pretty much a bunch of my-way-or-the-highway demagogues rather than rational thinkers. If rationality is a necessary component for a candidate, you're not left with much other than Obama.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSuzanne -- it's not correct that he's "alienated Catholic Democrats." They support this decision, sadly. Perhaps one benefit of this tussle is that the NROvians will finally recognize that Catholics are not on their side.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseHey, Mr. Moderator. Can I have a star, please? I have over 100 posts now. Thanks.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse