Obama's Right About Contraception

As a part of the health care reform, the Obama administration has decided that all women in the United States should have free contraception available to them. Understand that the president is not saying that any women must use contraception -- only that every woman should have the choice of whether to use contraception or not. I agree with the president's action, but I have not said anything before now because I really considered this to be a women's issue -- an issue that concerns a woman's control over her own body, and an issue that men should have no say over.

But the men on the other side of this issue, the ones who want to keep women in a second-class status in our society, are whining loudly that the president is wrong. They don't want women to have easy and free access to contraception (and control over their own bodies). The two groups whining the loudest are the leadership of the catholic church and congressional Republicans, and naturally, both groups are predominantly composed of men.

And sadly, even the cable news networks are playing into this idea that men should have the most say about what women can do with their own bodies. About 146 pundits have appeared on the three networks (Fox, MSNBC, CNN) to discuss the contraception issue, and 91 of those have been men -- nearly a two-to-one ratio. Here is the breakdown by network:

FOX NEWS
men...............38
women...............16

MSNBC NEWS
men...............44
women...............31

CNN NEWS
men...............9
women...............8

Those are pathetic numbers, and all three networks should be ashamed of themselves. You can bet that if the issue was whether Viagra (which is covered by nearly all insurance programs) should be covered by employer insurance programs, they wouldn't be inviting a two-to-one majority of women to discuss it. Why then are they inviting so many men to discuss an issue that concerns only women?

But even more pathetic is the opposition of the catholic leaders in America to the president's plan. Clinging to outdated and archaic pronouncements from Rome, the American catholic leaders say the plan would force them to violate their religious beliefs. That is ridiculous for two reasons.

First the president has submitted a compromise proposal which says no religious organization would have to pay for the contraception being included in their employee insurance plan, but the insurer would offer free contraception directly to female employees free of charge (because paying for contraception is a lot cheaper for insurance companies than paying for pregnancies). Since they are not required to pay for the inclusion of contraception in their insurance program, that should satisfy religious institutions that say they should not be forced to include contraception.

Second, as the chart above shows, most catholics in the United States support the president's plan. And it is a fact that for the last 50 years or more most catholic women have ignored the church's ban on contraception. Over 90% of women in all religions (including all christian sects) have used contraception according to surveys. The American catholic leaders are trying to make an issue of something that their flock (especially the women) long ago discarded.

The Republicans are even more disingenuous in their opposition to the program. They know most Americans support the president in this effort, but they decided a couple of years ago that they must oppose everything the president supports -- regardless of whether it will help the American people or not. There opposition is not religious in nature, but political. They simply don't care whether women can get birth control or not -- as long as they can pervert the issue to oppose the president.

Finally, there is one more aspect to this issue that I don't understand. Those opposing the president's contraception plan, both the catholic leaders and the congressional Republicans, are also the leaders in the fight against legal abortions. Why then would they oppose the most effective measure for preventing abortions -- contraception? It makes no sense.

Hopefully, this is the last time I will speak on this issue. I believe it is time for men (on both sides) to shut up and let women decide what they want done. Since men can't get pregnant, it is NONE OF THEIR BUSINESS! Period. End of discussion.