We Will Not Be Ignored: February 2012

So, our friends in the Federal Government decreed that every employer MUST provide insurance that covers FREE birth control to all women as part of their health insurance coverage by August of this year, giving religious affiliated organizations such as hospitals and charities a year's grace period before they must also comply. The Catholic Church - and many many others of various affiliations - stated that such a mandate is expressly unconstitutional, and easily collected 25,000+ signatures on a petition to overturn the mandate. My name was on that petition. Because of my concern thus expressed, I got this carefully-worded letter in my email inbox. I add my comments in blue:

Protecting the Health of Women While Accommodating Religious Liberty

By Cecilia Muñoz, Assistant to the President and Director of the Domestic Policy Council

Thank you for using We the People to make your voice heard about the Obama Administration's decision to ensure that women (but not men - how is that fair?) have access to free preventive care with no co-pays, including contraceptive services, no matter where they work.

As background, the Affordable Care Act, which should never have passed, requires insurance companies to cover preventive services, including preventive care for women, without charging a co-pay, starting on August 1, 2012. These preventive services include well women visits, domestic violence screening, and contraception, and all were recommended to the Secretary of Health and Human Services by the independent Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Science. What else did they recommend? Who else recommended these provisions?

The policies we have proposed exempt churches, other houses of worship, and similar organizations from covering contraception on the basis of their religious objections. But some religious organizations have raised religious liberty concerns about providing contraception in particular in recent weeks.

Today, President Obama has announced that his Administration will implement this policy in a manner that, according to him, fully accommodates religious liberty while protecting the health of women. As the President said:

Nearly 99 percent of all women have relied on contraception at some point in their lives –- 99 percent. Where is this study? How long ago was it conducted? Who conducted it? Has it ever been replicated? What was the sample size and demographics? No one asked me, so I know for a fact it wasn't "all women." Out of the many, many women who I know personally, several have never used contraception. That's more than 1%. And yet, more than half of all women between the ages of 18 and 34 have struggled to afford it. Again, tell me about this study. Also, since when is "struggled to afford it" a valid criterion - especially independent of all other criteria - for getting something provided to a person by tax dollars at no cost to the individual? So for all these reasons, we decided to follow the judgment of the nation’s leading medical experts and make sure that free preventive care includes access to free contraceptive care. Free. Nothing is free. Whether you’re a teacher, or a small businesswoman, or a nurse, or a janitor, (Ah, the easy-to-pull, well-worn, and ever-emotional Hard Working American card) no woman’s health should depend on who she is or where she works or how much money she makes (a platitude that does not directly). Every woman should be in control of the decisions that affect her own health. Period. (Which is why we are going to take over that right to choose and administrate those decisions for them.) This basic principle is already the law in 28 states across the country. This tells me that the individual States, the 28 in favor of this "basic principle" and the others with different policies, already have this issue firmly under control.

Now, as we move to implement this rule, however, we've been mindful that there's another principle at stake here –- and that's the principle of religious liberty, an inalienable right that is enshrined in our Constitution. As a citizen and as a Christian, I cherish this right. In fact, my first job in Chicago was working with Catholic parishes in poor neighborhoods, and my salary was funded by a grant from an arm of the Catholic Church. And I saw that local churches often did more good for a community than a government program ever could, so I know how important the work that faith-based organizations do and how much impact they can have in their communities. A whole paragraph that does nothing to answer questions or show solutions, but only to make you feel better, knowing that the President understand the concerns of the American people. If you'll forgive the movie reference, "I am a brave President!"

Video of his entire statement is available here.

Here are a few basic facts:

Under the policy, women have access to preventive care with no co-pay that includes contraceptive services.
All churches and houses of worship are exempt from the requirement to provide coverage for contraception or refer for contraception.
If a woman's employer is a religious non-profit organization, such as a charity hospital that has a religious objection to providing contraceptive services as part of its health plan, her insurance company -- not the hospital or charity -- will be required to reach out and provide her contraceptive care free of charge if she chooses to use it.

There are tremendous health benefits for women that come from using contraception. Contraception is a safe and effective way of preventing unintended pregnancies which can be associated with increased health risks, and doctors also prescribe contraception for medical and health reasons, including helping to reduce the risk of some cancers, serious infections and cysts. Yet many women skip contraceptive care because of cost.

President Obama is also committed to preserving religious liberty and he listened to the concerns raised by certain religious organizations and took them seriously.

You can learn more about the policy here.

This is an issue where people of good will on both sides of the debate have been grappling to find a solution that works for everyone, and the policy announced today has done that. The right to religious liberty will be fully protected, and a law that requires preventive care without co-pays will not discriminate against any woman, anywhere. Here are a few statements from groups involved in the issue:

Catholics United: http://www.catholics-united.org/ This group is not affiliated with the institutional Catholic Church and consistently promotes policies that oppose the official stand of the Catholic Church

President Obama has shown us that he is willing to rise above the partisan fray to deliver an actual policy solution that both meets the health care needs of all employees and respects the religious liberty of Catholic institutions.

Catholic Health Association: http://www.chausa.org At a glance, this group seems to be a legitimate and powerful entity, who seems to have bought the original “Affordable Care Act” (a.k.a. Obamacare) wholesale.

We are pleased and grateful that the religious liberty and conscience protection needs of so many ministries that serve our country were appreciated enough that an early resolution of this issue was accomplished.

Planned Parenthood: Their homepage makes it quite evident which side (ie planned or parenthood) their bread is buttered on.

The Obama administration has reaffirmed its commitment to ensuring all women will have access to birth control coverage, with no costly co-pays, no additional hurdles, and no matter where they work.

NARAL: Their website at www.naral.org says they are “Pro-Choice America.” After searching their website to no avail, I found that this acronym stands for “National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League” on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NARAL_Pro-Choice_America

Today's announcement makes it clear that President Obama is firmly committed to protecting women's health.

A short pause here to draw your attention to a significant list of entities who are NOT on this list of fast-acting kudos-givers, who we might expect would support such a law if it were actually good for us:

· Physicians

· Any professional medical group

· Insurance Companies

· The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

· Official religious organizations

· Official atheist organizations

· Parent Groups

· Women’s Rights Organizations

· Researchers

· Economists

· State Governments

Thank you again for participating in the We the People platform to make your voice heard on this important issue.