Someone needs to help me out with this birth control controversy because I’m completely fucking flummoxed by it.
Here’s how I understand the situation; HHS (health and human services) passed a law mandating that insurance companies must cover birth control pills at 100% (meaning there are no copays involved). So far, so good. HHS has exempted churches from this requirement (they lost me on this part, but I’ll get to that later), but did not exempt religious organizations that employ people. So the Catholic church does not need to have the type of insurance that covers the pill, but Catholic Charities does. That last part is where the controversy that eludes me lies.
I worked for Catholic Charities at one point in my career. I’m Jewish, so I have no interest in living my life according to the tenets of the Catholic Church. Their belief that the use of contraception (yes, it was condoms back then too) is wrong had nothing to do with me, just like my abhorrence of pedophilia and the covering up of pedophilia apparently has nothing to do with the Catholic church. There’s no fucking reason on the planet why my insurance coverage should cover less than anyone else’s, just because I work for Catholic charities. If I can put my disgust with your covering up a world wide epidemic of child rape in your church, you can put up with my desire not to get pregnant.
But clashing beliefs aside, what’s the big deal? Why can’t the nuns themselves have access to free birth control pills? Aren’t they Catholics? I thought they didn’t believe in birth control? Does the church really believe that the $10 a month copay is the only thing keeping the nuns faithful? Seriously, what the fuck? Is the church so fragile that their beliefs can’t stand up to free birth control? How fucking insecure about your faith are you? This isn’t about practicing your faith. This is about limiting people’s options in an effort to make them bend to your will.
And let me mention that the most effective way to minimize abortion is through birth control. That’s a demonstrable fact so don’t give me any of the bullshit abstinence crap. So if you’re against abortion, you must be for birth control. If you’re opposed to both birth control and abortion, then your goal is clearly to punish women for having sex. I would tell those people to to go fuck themselves, but I’m pretty sure that their hatred of women stems from the fact that they can’t get any to fuck them, so they’re fucking themselves plenty.
But anyway, I digress. I don’t understand the controversy. If you don’t believe in the pill, don’t use it. And if you believe in your faith, then have some fucking faith in it. Free birth control will not bring your religion crashing down on you because it will not tempt believers away from you.
And right wing media – please, for the love of god, stop with the nontroversies. They’re becoming tiresome, and you’re shrinking your base with each and every one.
