Congress picks up birth control battle

[MountainLaurel]

Again, we are shown that Roe was never the ultimate target of the forced birthers, Griswold was.

In Tuesday’s Post, my colleague Jerry Markon probed the increasingly strained relationship between Catholics and the White House. As he reports, much of the tension is tied up in how the health reform law deals with contraceptives--an issue that will come to a head on the Hill this morning.

House Republicans are opening the day with a hearing on a health reform provision that religious groups have fiercely protested: the mandated coverage of birth control without a co-pay.

Beginning next year, the health reform law will require insurance companies to cover preventive health services for women, including contraception, without a co-payment. For religious organizations that oppose contraception, there’s also a conscience clause: faith-based groups that primarily employ and serve those of the same religion can pursue an exemption.

But religious leaders say that’s too narrow; they want the conscience clause to be wider-reaching and not hinge on whom a religious institution employs or serves. That would likely allow Catholic universities and hospitals, which tend not to employ primarily Catholic populations, to qualify for the exemption. According to the Catholic Hospital Association, most Catholic hospitals do not currently provide coverage for contraceptives.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/congress-picks-up-birth-control-battle/2011/11/01/gIQANd6QdM_blog.html

[crim son]

1. There's a problem, though, when women have no option other than

a Catholic hospital. Otherwise I'd say all non-Catholics medical professionals should find jobs jobs in secular institutions and all non-Catholic patients go elsewhere as well. I know St. Joe's here in Bangor would collapse if that happened.

[get the red out]

2. 7 fucking BILLION

The Catholic Church needs to STFU.