Well now, I’ve been listening to all the brouhaha about the Republican’s “War on Women” and Rush Limbaugh’s indelicate comments about Ms. Fluke. I’ve followed many liberal friends’ comments on Facebook about how awful this and that is, and while I agree that Limbaugh’s comments were insensitive and out of line, but I think most folks are missing the point.
This isn’t about a War on Women. Hell, it isn’t even about women! By allowing certain folks to frame the issue as if it were, is to allow them to draw the attention away from the real issue.
And that is, can the government, which so adamantly believes in the separation of church and state that it actively seeks to keep any semblance of religion out of government, force itself into the workings of a church? Can it force a church to act contrary to its moral beliefs?
I would personally say No!
The state has no right to force this upon a church. To force the church to use its resources to pay for something that is morally abhorrent to its beliefs is crossing the line of separation that has been so fervently drawn. Those who are advocating this seem to think that crossing it in the opposite direction is OK. Well I’m here to say it’s not! To cross it in one direction is as bad as it is to cross it the other. Just like these folks don’t want the church to be involved in government, the government should not be involved in church.
The case at hand is whether the government can force Catholic institutions to provide contraceptive services to individuals employed by them or in Ms. Fluke’s case, attending their school. The answer should be emphatically NO!
It is a well-known fact that that the Catholic Church is steadfastly against birth control. It has held this position for centuries. In Ms. Fluke’s case, she enrolled in Georgetown University knowingly or reasonably should have known that Georgetown University would not provide birth control services as part of its health plan. Georgetown University is not the only school in the country in which Ms. Fluke could have obtained a law degree. It isn’t even the cheapest school she could have gotten a law degree from. Yet she chose to attend this school knowing or should have known that these services are not provided.
I venture to say that this is not, as many would have you believe, a women specific issue either. The folks who are making a fuss about this are claiming this is a war against women, but I would bet you that the Catholic Church doesn’t pay for condoms and most likely doesn’t pay for vasectomies. So how is this discriminatory against women? The Catholic Church and its institutions are not going to assist anyone in the use of artificial means of birth control, be they male or female. But the folks trying to force government into more and more of our lives can’t gin up near as much moral outrage if they tell the truth, that this is even handed treatment.
In an effort to mollify the dumb Catholics, President Obama said the Church didn’t have to supply the birth control services, he would make the insurance companies supply the services for free. His problem here was the Catholics weren’t as dumb as he thought. Unlike the President’s followers, they realized that nothing is free. Everything has to be paid for one way or another. The insurance company will increase what it is charging the institution to cover the cost of the birth control, and we are right back where we started. The government forcing the church (through the fees it is paying for the service) to do something it is morally opposed to.
This isn’t a Republican War On Women! This is a war being waged by socialists to insinuate the government into areas of our society that the Constitution expressly prohibits it from.
Whether you agree with the Catholic Church’s position on birth control or not, you should be supporting them if you believe in a limited government. One that stays out of your personal life and lets you make the major life choices you are faced with.
Or at least that’s the way it seems to an old farm boy.
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