Contraception

The big news this week is the opposition to the Obama's Administration requiring that birth control be added to employee insurance programs. The Catholic Church is against this, and now EWTN has filed a lawsuit against it.

What is their argument? The Church teaches that birth control is a sin and not allowed for Catholics (or at least "artificial" birth control. The rhythm method is allowed. Seems to me this is splitting hairs. If using a condom is wrong, then avoiding sex so that you don't get pregnant is the same thing. It's a sin of omission). Catholic organizations that provide health insurance for their employees object to their insurance program paying for birth control. They say this violates their freedom of religion.

The counter argument? No one is forced to use birth control. The freedom to use it is part of the law of this land. If a Catholic doesn't believe in birth control, they do not have to use it and partake of this insurance benefit. In addition, there are women who need to take birth control for medical reasons. I know of someone who has endometriosis and her doctor prescribed the pill as treatment. So banning the payment for birthcontrol would also ban paying for this treatment.

Churches still do not have to provide birth control insurance coverage for direct employees of the church. It's mainly affecting church related public enterprises, such as media companies, hospitals, charities, etc. which employ many people who are not Catholic.

What the Church is trying to do is control the rights of non-members. This is a dangerous act. The attitudes that go with this gave us such wonderful slaughters as the Crusades and various Jewish pogroms. In a pluralistic society, the Catholic Church cannot enforce it's dogma on non-Catholics. It may teach, preach, entice and persuade, but it may not force. Better for it to set an example to others rather than follow policies that just alienate non-members even more.

So yes, public Church organizations and affiliates should be forced to pay for birth control. They may teach that it is wrong, coerce their own members not to use it, but they have no right to deny this insurance benefit to their public employees.