Duly Noted
Nice Insurance You Got There, Be A Shame if Anything Happened to It
Dark clouds over the monastery at Belmont Abbey College. Carolinadoug, Creative Commons.
William Thierfelder, president of the private, Catholic, Belmont Abbey College, is scheduled to testify before Congress tomorrow about why Obama's compromise to provide free birth control to employees of religiously-affiliated universities and hospitals is a violation of religious freedom.
Thierfelder's goal was to repeat the words "religious freedom" as many times as possible in his interview with Sarah Kliff of the Washington Post in the hopes that readers would confuse repeated assertion with cogent argument. But the real bombshell that Kliff elicited from Thierfelder was a veiled threat:
[KLIFF] Let’s say we get to a point where your lawsuit isn’t successful and Congress doesn’t overturn this provision. What will you do then? Will Belmont Abbey comply with the mandate, drop insurance coverage or seek another option?
[THIERFELDER] We have to see what does come about. We want to take the least hurtful option for our employees and students. We obviously want to provide insurance coverage to our employees. It would be incredibly unfortunate if that wasn’t an alternative. This principle is so strong with us, it’s not really a compromising sort of thing. We can’t give in on this. So I don’t really know what happens. [Emphasis added.]
Let me get this straight: Belmont Abbey College would eliminate health insurance for all of its employees rather than allow them to accept free birth control through their insurer.
Belmont Abbey College would leave its own employees uninsured for everything from prenatal care to cancer just to make double-plus-sure that BAC isn't tainted by the contraception cooties. How pro-life!
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Comments
There are several questions that come to mind when I read the arguments of the Catholic Church regarding birth control and covering it for free with health insurance. They imply it is about their religious freedom. If the insurance mandated that all women had to use birth control or that it gave the right to women of the Catholic faith to use it, they may have an argument. It does not. It does not deprive anyone of the Catholic religion from following the teachings of the church nor does any one with an objection due to their religious conviction, from a Catholic Hospital to beauty salon owner, have to pay for it. The fact is the Catholic Church does allow birth control using the rhythm method and/or abstinence. The Affordable Care Act does not cover abortion. The second question that comes to mind is the Catholic Church’s objecting to the intrusion of their rights by the state. I see it as an intrusion of religion overstepping their right and intruding on the rights of government. They do have recourse and can take it to the courts. However, I believe this has already been done on two occasions, ruling against them. What I find deplorable is how this religious ruling/teaching affects women (especially in the third world) as the use of birth control is used for so many other gynecological medical conditions besides the prevention of pregnancy. What about their rights.
that’s fantastic!
commented by Thigh Pain