Catholic leaders and the president are at odds over requiring Catholic organizations to cover contraception for employees, despite last week's compromise. Carol Marin and her panel take up the debate on Chicago Tonight at 7:00 pm.
Last Friday, President Obama announced a new policy to ensure that women have access to free preventive care, including contraception, no matter where she works. Religious employers will not be required to provide contraception, but insurance companies will be required to directly provide it to all women, free of charge. Watch the president's remarks in the video below.
Archbishop of Chicago, Francis Cardinal George, issued a letter about the contraception mandate calling it an "unjust law." Read the letter in the PDF below.
Should employees of Catholic organizations have access to free contraceptive coverage? Post your comments below or sound off on our discussion board!
Daily coverage delivered to your inbox
Video Archive
Comments
1st amendment rights
The issue right now is women's health care which mobilizes a segment of the population. I am more fearful that my right to believe in God who provides for us in every way is being swept away by a government whose misguided agenda is being forced upon me. So much for freedom in America. I am not so happy with the country and its moral code which is eerily like the fall of the Empire.
You have it backwards. By
You have it backwards. By limiting access to birth control, your agenda is being forced on women and couples who do not share your views.
Nobody is "limiting" "access"
Nobody is "limiting" "access" to birth control. This is all about forcing people to provide and pay for someone else's birth control. That is government tyranny.
contraception & Catholic Church
Coverage should be provided for contraception, though with the President's modifications. People do not have to use contraception if their religious beliefs prohibit it. Thus, the health care provider will not have to provide it.
Contraception
Contraception is being miss-labeled as preventative health care!
It is not health care of any kind!
Health care would be the prevention of disease, the treatment of disease, and the curing of disease. Disease is the malfunction of the body/mind or inability of the body/mind to act in a normal manner.
Contraception does not perform any of these functions. Contraception, in fact, CAUSES the body to malfunction. Shutting down a woman's or man's reproduction organs or keeping them from functioning in a normal way (they way they were meant to function) is the opposite of health care. It is poisoning the body for the purpose of providing people with a convenient lifestyle.
To say that contraception is a preventative medication is also to say that the creation of human life is itself a disease. It is not! The purpose of the reproductive organs is to reproduce life.
If people want to take pills or undergo other procedures to disconnect their bodily functions, that is their option. And if they want to pay for it, that is also their option. But don't call it preventative medicine or healthcare of any kind. It is an elective treatment that satisfies personal lifestyle decisions.
Neither healthcare insurance providers nor religious institutions should be required to cover this cost.
do they cover viagra?
do they cover viagra?
Do they cover marijuana?
Since such a small percentage of users of this herb require it for medicinal purposes, why can't the rest of the users enjoy its benefits and have insurance pay for it?
Well Said!
Well said, Joe! Thank you for taking a stand :) I agree 100% with 100% of the things you said. I hope more people hear your voice and come to see the truth!!! God bless!
Employee's of Catholic org. have access to free contraceptions
When the Insurance Companies provide free contraceptive coverage they will pass on this additional cost to the Religious institutions using these Insurance Companies therefore the Religious Institution is providing coverage indirectly.
What about the small business owner that is a devote Catholic and has Four female employees?
This will only lead to more of our Liberties taken away.
Contraception is being miss
Contraception is being miss-labeled as preventative health care!
It is not health care of any kind!
Health care would be the prevention of disease, the treatment of disease, and the curing of disease. Disease is the malfunction of the body/mind or inability of the body/mind to act in a normal manner.
Contraception does not perform any of these functions. Contraception, in fact, CAUSES the body to malfunction. Shutting down a woman's or man's reproduction organs or keeping them from functioning in a normal way (they way they were meant to function) is the opposite of health care. It is poisoning the body for the purpose of providing people with a convenient lifestyle.
To say that contraception is a preventative medication is also to say that the creation of human life is itself a disease. It is not! The purpose of the reproductive organs is to reproduce life.
If people want to take pills or undergo other procedures to disconnect their bodily functions, that is their option. And if they want to pay for it, that is also their option. But don't call it preventative medicine or healthcare of any kind. It is an elective treatment that satisfies personal lifestyle decisions.
Neither healthcare insurance providers nor religious institutions should be required to cover this cost.
.
Contraception & the Catholic Church
Contraception is being miss-labeled as preventative health care!
It is not health care of any kind!
Health care would be the prevention of disease, the treatment of disease, and the curing of disease. Disease is the malfunction of the body/mind or inability of the body/mind to act in a normal manner.
Contraception does not perform any of these functions. Contraception, in fact, CAUSES the body to malfunction. Shutting down a woman's or man's reproduction organs or keeping them from functioning in a normal way (they way they were meant to function) is the opposite of health care. It is poisoning the body for the purpose of providing people with a convenient lifestyle.
To say that contraception is a preventative medication is also to say that the creation of human life is itself a disease. It is not! The purpose of the reproductive organs is to reproduce life.
If people want to take pills or undergo other procedures to disconnect their bodily functions, that is their option. And if they want to pay for it, that is also their option. But don't call it preventative medicine or healthcare of any kind. It is an elective treatment that satisfies personal lifestyle decisions.
Neither healthcare insurance providers nor religious institutions should be required to cover this cost.
.
Have you not yet realized
Have you not yet realized that "contraceptives," "birth control" pills--call them what you may--ARE used for MEDICAL REASONS, such as treatment for endometriosis, ovarian cancer, even prostrate cancer?? "Contraceptives" ARE used to PREVENT the recurrence of such MEDICAL PROBLEMS and are thus a form of PREVENTATIVE CARE, to use your phrase. WHAT PLANET ARE YOU LIVING ON?? WAKE UP!! Contraceptives SHOULD be included under healthcare!!
Free Contraception?
Heck no. Nothing is free. Somebody is paying for it.
HHS Mandate
The issue is about more than contraception which is the right of every woman. The Church is not saying that women do not have this right, it is saying that this mandate goes directly against the First Amendment and Religious Freedom which is gurantateed by the FIRST and not the 10th Amendment. No religious group, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, etc. should be forced to do something that goes directly against their MORAL conscience.
I am appreciative of Channel
I am appreciative of Channel 11 for covering this issue. Other networks have not. I am a practicing Roman Catholic who is grieved by the great division on this issue. I agree with the USCCB because of my faith and I am sure that sounds very strange to people that are on the other side of the issue.
Who is the Real Catholic Church?
As a 40- something practicing Catholic and married father of two children, I can say that the "official" church stance on contraception, like many hot button "social" issues, is largely ignored by most married U.S.Catholics my age. Which begs the question - What is the real Church stance on contraception? All my Catholic friends and many of my fellow parishioners friends use birth control - we all have only one or two children. I have heard (and believe) statistics that state over 95% of practicing Catholics in child bearing age use some form of contraception.
Let's face it the "firestorm" put forth on this issue comes from the official position of the disconnected church hierarchy. Years ago, in our Pre-Cana course when the birth control issue was discussed, the priest leading the discussion stated, "The sanctity of your marriage relationship takes precedence over everything - if in good conscience you need to limit the number of children for the success if your relationship - so be it."
I could not have said it
I could not have said it better. We have been married 30years and received the same counsel.
Contraception is NOT being Mislabeled as Health Care
I understand the Catholic Churches unyielding stance on contraception, however it is a narrow position devoid of a nuanced understanding of the inconveniences of the messy real world. At times contraception IS used for the treatment disease and alleviation of suffering, so this stance runs counter to many of the Church's stated aims.
Some OB-GYN statistical data tell us about 10% of "birth-control" pills are prescribed for reasons other than contraception. They are used to maintain even hormone levels in women with erratic menstrual cycles which can cause severe, chronic pain. They can reduce risk for ovarian cysts in women with erratic hormone levels. They can also be used to help some women achieve pregnancy, again by leveling out irregular hormone levels. Some woman have health issues after a pregnancy which require preventing future pregnancies for a limited time. Other health issues afflict men which also require "contraception" to alleviate or prevent disease. These contraceptive methods are often the most cost effective, least invasive way to relieve suffering.
Not all issues are as simple as we'd like them to be. When we think and act in black and white we unfortunately limit our humanity.
10% is not a very impressive number
So for the 10% of people who need the drugs, we have rolled out drugs for the remaining 90% of users who require this TREATMENT for their social desires!
Wow, some justification, Rob.
Oh, to have a career in MEDICINE, where you can justify every drug you pump into people for a profit!
90% of pill poppers are not using it for medicinal purposes
Based on your logic, Dr. Rob. We should legalize marijuana AND have it covered MANDATORY by health care providers. Since such a small percentage of users of this herb require it for medicinal purposes, why can't the rest of the users enjoy its benefits and have insurance pay for it?
For every 1 person who requires the birth control pills, 9 people are using it for non-medical purposes. They WANT to shut down their repropuctive organs. They don't need to do it. They want to do it./ Them let them pay for it themselves. and then give the 10% of people who do NEED it, their coverage. I should not have to pay insurance premiums to help pay for people who simply desire a certain lifestyle and don't wantr their body to function the way its supposed to function.
.
Respectfully,
No one is required to utilize services that go against their conscience.
No single law can anticipate all possibilities in a complex world. But a primary function of our government is to ensure that basic standards are eroded by neither minority, or majority views.
That's also why we "shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion". Denying contraception to those who don't share (a particular) church's views does exactly that.
Add new comment