Last week when President OBama announced that Catholic Colleges and Hospitals would be made to cover Birth Control, not abortions, for all women, we saw several Catholic heads yell,”that it was an outrage that President OBama would force them to go against their religious Convictions.” All the Republican candidates, Mitt, Newt, and Santorum have picked it up and are running with it.
Time out for the truth: 28 States have made in mandatory that all Religious Institutions must provide for the healthcare needs of women including birth control. It has existed in these States for years, and was decided by the Supreme Courts in their States as to be Constitutional as well as sent back to the States by the United States Supreme Court to give that decision to the States. On the Federal level the United States Supreme Court has ruled the same. Because other States know they would lose if they fought it in their States they also insist that coverage for birth control in Religious hospitals and Institutions be covered.
There was a time in History that the Mormon Church claimed interference with Religious Freedom when it came to practice of Polygamy. Fundamentalist Mormons still try to argue it. Seven Day Adventist who believe that Jesus heals, and fail to get their children medical treatment in cases of neglect or serious illness, claim it is against their religious rights when Government decides to prosecute. There is a current case on the docket where parents are being prosecuted because they let their son die from untreated cancer although he complained bitterly to them as well as his teachers about being in severe pain.
Our Founding fathers established the Supreme Court to be the highest Court of the land and no one can claim religious rights above the law of the Supreme Court. It has been tested by Religion throughout the course of history but it is well established in our Constitution, that no law or belief supersedes the Law of man through the Supreme Court. What the right wing conservatives really want is to appoint the Supreme Court Justices that they think will side with their views by winning the election for the Republicans, just as they have appointed conservatives judges in all of our States.
This is not abortion on any level nor is President OBama requiring abortion coverage on the Federal Level. What is really at debate here,is the Catholic Church is insisting that the Plan B birth control or more commonly known as the morning after pill, not be given to rape victims, since they call it an abortion pill instead of a birth control pill. It like all other birth control, be it an IUD, pill, or condom, simply stops the sperm from reaching the egg since it takes 72 hours to do so. If a woman is pregnant, like all the other forms of birth control, it is not effective against preventing pregnancy after the fact. (sorry about constantly repeating myself on this issue but until people really understand what the Plan B birth control pill is, it is necessary that we do)
The Catholic Church is insisting that rape victims, of all beliefs, not be given the Plan B birth control pill following rape, when victims of rape are transported to their hospitals. They instead are declaring interference with Religious Rights, in an attempt to tie the hands of the nursing and Doctor staff, when it comes to sparing victims further suffering from the fear of pregnancy, when the staff provides the victims with the morning after pill. This includes children of the ages of 12 to 15,as well as University students and public school children, who are victims of rape.
Since President OBama is simply following through on the Federal level the hypocrites during an election year are now out in full force. As long as the Catholic Church is hiring people from all different faiths or non faiths, they do not have a right to disclude their Constitutional rights to use birth control, by people of different faiths or non-faiths, in their Insurance programs or refuse other people on other insurance programs the right to use birth control. They can insist that their own membership not use birth control but 98% of all sexually active Catholics do use birth control. Birth control is also used in treatment for a number of other health problems in women, who are not sexually active.
In a previous post I said that the Catholic Church has the legal right to not carry insurance in cases that apply to their hospitals, charities, or organizations. This is true. However if they do provide insurance, because they want to attract the most qualified workers, they must follow the law as stated in the Constitutional rights of non-Catholic members, as well as, all women’s health needs. The Catholic Church does cover Viagra along with all health needs for men. Since a large percentage of rapists are impotent one could argue that it is wrong for them to insure the coverage of Viagra.
Mitt Romney himself, while Governor of Massachusetts, which is a State that insists that all birth control be covered for women, said nothing about it while Governor of the State but since it plays well to blame President OBama as being against the Catholic Church or Religious rights in general, Mitt is now making much to do about it, as is Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum.
To do so plays well with the right-wing conservatives and Evangelicals. What they don’t realize is that when women go into the booth to vote they will all find that women in general, Catholics included, will find it for what it is and just another political maneuver against women to decide for themselves their right to make the decision on their own reproductive well-being and health. Perhaps they do know that, and that is the reason that Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, and Rick Santorum along with the Tea Party are all on the same page in an effort to make the women majority voters second class citizens without rights to their own body and health. This hate is what unites them all against President Barack OBama, afterall.
It may play well with the conservatives, just as the Susan B. Komen Foundation, removing funding to Planned Parenthood did, but in the end when women organize to throw their support together, we find Karen Handel resigning and Susan B, Komen returning funding to Planned Parenthood. 3 million more donor dollars, also added by others outside of the Foundation, were added to Planned Parenthood who is the winner in the debate.
When “Good Old Boys”, try to deny women their Constitutional rights under the law, it is the “Good Old Boys’ who lose. This plays a large role in why Rick Santorum, who is both a Tea Party Darling as well as Conservative choice won big in Missouri, Colorado, and Minnesota yesterday. The candidates would all be wise to choose another topic such as what it is they plan on doing towards bringing jobs to the communities since they profess that is their strong point.
We know the Republican philosophy of “trickle down economics” does not work for the working poor and middle class,but only makes Corporations and the wealthy richer, so how are they going to help the working poor and middle class without promoting that Capitalism provides jobs, when we know that they are shipping the jobs overseas instead?
That seems to be lacking in all of these Republican candidates campaign messages. There are no concrete blue prints amongst any of them, since their real intentions, along with the help of the Tea Party, is to cut costs for Corporations by eliminating Government Departments that protect the rights of workers,along with all the Unions who establish wages and working conditions for all of us.
The Republican Party also want the conservatives to appoint their own Supreme Court Justices in an effort to deny equal rights to women,minorities and gays, through their Religious beliefs. If they were honest with us, we wouldn’t find their truth to be a popular subject so instead they keep throwing up smoke screens as though we are all too stupid to see through them.
Since the total truth of the Republican plan will not win them an election, then we keep hearing all of these lies and attacks. If that wins them the election then we only have ourselves to blame.
