Dear Men in Government and the Catholic Church, Grow Up

by muon

Frankly, I'm getting fed up with the whole Contraception vs. the Catholic Church issue.

On one side, I saw one of the letters read in Catholic churches across the nation. The letter repeatedly used the  phrase "almost all employers" when talking about the mandate for contraception benefits, but never stated that all churches who wanted to be were exempt. The Catholic churches in my town don't have schools or hospitals attached to them, yet they implied to their parishioners that this would apply to Catholic workers in the employ of these churches, which wasn't true. The letter also said "abortion services" were mandated. I read the bill and couldn't find any reference to mandated "abortion services" benefits, in fact, it stated that abortive drugs would definitely NOT be covered. Possibly the church is referring to contraceptives as "abortion services." I suspect the phrase was simply thrown in to push people's emotional buttons. Whatever the case, I hope the American bishops all went to confession this week about the half truths in that letter.

On the other side, seriously, what a stupid thing for the President to do in an election year. Why all of a sudden start dictating to employers what they can and can't do, especially on a divisive issue like this, when the administration's been pushing for compromise and bipartisanship for the last 4 years? I don't kid myself that the Executive Branch suddenly woke up last week all concerned about the health of women receiving healthcare benefits from Catholic institutions. No, this decision had to be political in some way. I just don't get the angle.

Then there's the media, who ALWAYS finds Catholic men to explain the church's side. PBS interviewed a prof at Catholic University. They showed him teaching a class made up almost entirely of men. Every time they talked about women getting benefits from the university, they showed female students, not employees of the school. They interviewed a graduate student, asking if she'd like free contraceptives, but again, as far as I could tell, she didn't work for the school. What, they couldn't go into the dining hall and ask a cafeteria lady? Or someone on the cleaning crew? (or are they outsourced jobs? Anyone know?)

The bottom line here is, how much will this mandate help get contraceptives into the hands of women who can't afford them? It's not going to cover the unemployed, self-employed, part-time employed, or those with sporadic employment. It won't help the millions of Americans without healthcare coverage. If the Federal government is so convinced this is important for the health of women, families, and the country, then make it a government program so it benefits everyone, and so employers don't have to have meltdowns about their hypocritical ethics.

Meantime, let Catholic institutions be exempt. Like any set of employer benefits, workers ought to be considering what they need and don't need when interviewing for jobs. If Catholic hospitals and schools lose good workers because of their decision, if they then lose patients and students because their work force is substandard, hey, that's the American way.