Healthcare-Contraception Debate Hijacked by Politicians

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El Diario/La Prensa, Editorial, Posted: Feb 13, 2012

Some are calling it a war against religion. Others, an assault against freedom of expression or an attack against the Catholic Church. In reality, the new federal rules imposed by the healthcare reform package already exist in most states and all the uproar surrounding it is nothing more than politicizing a medical issue during a campaign year.

In August a new rule goes into effect requiring that most insurance plans cover fully preventive services for women, including contraceptives.

Churches, as religious sites, are exempt from this requirement. However, the Catholic Church doesn't feel this is sufficient and it wants any organization with a religious affiliation such as charities, hospitals and universities, to be exempt as well.

We believe that, in this case, the Church's request goes too far. The church has it religious values and society has its laws. In this case, the law respects and protects freedom of faith.

That said, a Catholic hospital is an employer and it should not have the right to pick an choose which labor laws to respect fully or partially. A university or medical center has a variety of employees and their goals extend beyond religious faith. For them , this isn't the church, it is an employer.

What would happen if every religiously orientated organization could choose to abide to labor laws to degree that they adhere to its doctrine?

There are religious doctrines that prohibit blood transfusions yet organizations that would be aligned with these teachings don't have health insurance that prohibits coverage of this procedure.

In addition, the healthcare reform bill isn't adding anything new in this regard. It was already the case that 28 states already had laws like this on the books, which is why the uproar has a suspiciously political tone to it. The complaints, from the priests' altar, pull together the presidential hopefuls and the congressional Republican leaders. It is a politically expedient way to mobilize the religious vote.

Conservatives love to target Obama's healthcare reform. The Catholic Church's criticism adds fuel to the fire with this new demand.

Friday's White House proposal addresses the criticism with a political maneuver that will allow an employer – in some cases, not to be required to be responsible for the coverage of birth control measures; rather, the insurer itself would provide the coverage. We hope that this compromise is the solution.

Freedom of faith and expression is an essential right in this country, but so is the right of a woman to have access to needed medical services. The healthcare reform package fulfills these twin rights.
 

Comments

 

Anonymous

Posted Feb 13

I was raised as a Catholic....or perhaps lowered. :-) Whatever. But seriously: I strongly disagree with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops statement, which denounces President Barack Obama's attempts at compromise as "needless government intrusion in the internal governance of religious institutions". On the contrary, the Bishops comments are themselves a needless religious intrusion upon the proper and legitimate functions of government...functions that serve to promote women's rights, equality, and fairness for ALL. No one is coming into our Churches and trying to tell parishioners what to believe. BUT If the Bishops want to start businesses that employ millions of people of varying faiths -or no "faith" at all- THEN they must play by the rules. Just because a religious group in America claims to believe something, we cannot excuse them from obeying the law in the PUBLIC arena, based on that belief. They can legally attempt to change the law, not to deny it outright. And if they want to plunge overtly into politics from the pulpit, then they should give up their tax-exempt status. Did I miss something, or when it comes to the "sanctity of life", is every single righteous Catholic still a card carrying conscientious objector, refusing to take up arms, totally against the death penalty, and against contraception in all its forms? Oh well, hypocrisy is at the heart of politics, and politics masquerading as religion even more so. This country is an invigorating mixture of all the diversity that life has to offer, drawing its strength FROM that diversity. We need to work together to preserve, enrich, and strengthen this unique experiment - NOT to tear it down with poisonous, paralyzing, and un-Christian demonization of each other.

Anonymous

Posted Feb 13

I was raised as a Catholic....or perhaps lowered. :-) Whatever. But seriously: I strongly disagree with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops statement, which denounces President Barack Obama's attempts at compromise as "needless government intrusion in the internal governance of religious institutions". On the contrary, the Bishops comments are themselves a needless religious intrusion upon the proper and legitimate functions of government...functions that serve to promote women's rights, equality, and fairness for ALL. No one is coming into our Churches and trying to tell parishioners what to believe. BUT If the Bishops want to start businesses that employ millions of people of varying faiths -or no "faith" at all- THEN they must play by the rules. Just because a religious group in America claims to believe something, we cannot excuse them from obeying the law in the PUBLIC arena, based on that belief. They can legally attempt to change the law, not to deny it outright. And if they want to plunge overtly into politics from the pulpit, then they should give up their tax-exempt status. Did I miss something, or when it comes to the "sanctity of life", is every single righteous Catholic still a card carrying conscientious objector, refusing to take up arms, totally against the death penalty, and against contraception in all its forms? Oh well, hypocrisy is at the heart of politics, and politics masquerading as religion even more so. This country is an invigorating mixture of all the diversity that life has to offer, drawing its strength FROM that diversity. We need to work together to preserve, enrich, and strengthen this unique experiment - NOT to tear it down with poisonous, paralyzing, and un-Christian demonization of each other.

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