Perhaps I just don’t understand the full scope of the issue…or perhaps I understand it and am simply in disagreement with a lot of people with whom I’m normally in political lockstep. In either case, I’ll go on record in agreement with Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s order temporarily preventing the government from enforcing contraceptive coverage requirements against the Denver-based religious organization.
While I am very much in favor of giving women free access to contraceptives, I am very much opposed to governmental interference that effectively ignores religious principles. Do I agree that the Little Sisters of the Poor Home for the Aged should preach abstinence over contraception and do I think the organization should withhold contraceptives from employees? No. But it’s really not my business. And as long as employees of the organization have ready alternative access to contraceptives, should they want them, I see no legitimate reason to force a religious organization to be the one providing or paying for access to contraceptives if that would be contrary to the organization’s religious principles. Given that the ACA requires free contraceptives in insurance plans, I would see no problem making whatever adjustments are necessary to ensure that employees of religious organizations have access outside the church.
It would be an entirely different story if the church or other religious organization attempted to block the government from granting the organization’s employees access to contraceptives apart from the church. If that were the case, I would be up in arms about it. But I have real issues with the government essentially discounting religious principles…even though I vigorously disagree with those principles.
Convince me I’m wrong, or that I don’t get it.
I think you’ve hit on the key issue, Juan. We (as a society) are trying to place everyone in the same cultural framework; that’s not who we are…we’re an amalgam of cultures and it’s time we acknowledged that and acted accordingly.
I’m in agreement with Sotomayer as well: It’s a good move, one that provides some time for thinking and adjusting to a healthcare plan that attempts to create a plan where “one size fits all.”