To Insure or Not to Insure Contraceptives Part I

The Obama administration’s mandate on all employers – including Catholic hospitals, universities, and even charities – to amend their health insurance coverage policies to include free contraceptives for women has ignited a never-ending frenzied and controversial debate. It has ushered in a culture war on contraceptives between Leftists who advocate the State subsidizing contraceptives for women on the grounds that a woman’s right to her reproductive system must be protected and Rightists who oppose the subsidies because it coerces religious groups to provide “access” to these services while running roughshod on their protection of their religious tenets and freedom.

(Interestingly enough, the real reason for the Left’s support of the contraceptive coverage is not due to “access” to said coverage or “protect a woman’s right to choose,” but rather to implement “population control,” as Real Time host Bill Maher poignantly opined nearly two weeks ago on his HBO show. No proof can be offered to substantiate that charge, but the tone and mindset of this action are blatantly and ubiquitously undeniable.)

The nation’s top Catholic organization The United States Conference for Catholic Bishops and other officials from the Catholic Church have taken President Obama to task over his decree on religious and moral grounds, because, since this new policy is imposed upon all said institutions and that the Church opposes the practice of using contraception as it is violates the spirit and sanctity of their religious tenets and its First Amendment protection of religious liberty.