Outrages But Fully Expected
The first Amendment assures a separation of church and State, many say. It actually says:
“Congress shall make no law repecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free practice thereof…”
The Catholic Church and soon to be elevate Cardinal Timothy Dolan think other wise.
Dolan introduced the notion that the Obama Administration was “at war” with religion. He contended that there was a coordinated effort to take away protections accorded by the first Amendment. Serious charges to be sure, but what exactly is the evidence?
I recall cases where family members of certain sects refused to seek medical attention (including transfusions) for a sick children on religious grounds. They maintained god would heal. Sadly in too many cases, god must have been tending to more pressing matters. In some situation local medical officials stepped in with court orders and saved the child. In others, help arrived too late and the child died. In those cases, the parents were brought before civilian courts on the basis of child endangerment.
Consider also this modern day divisive issue; pro-choice versus pro-life. Supporter of choice strongly hold that a woman has a inalienable right to choose paths concerning her reproductive health. Opponents offer a range in opposing rationale, but in one way or another, all base their opposition on the belief that the unborn has an inalienable right to life. I will not try to critique each side’s case at this time.
Rather the point worth making is that those seeking an abortion do so because for some reason their pregnancy is unwanted. There are many reasons given. Too young, unprepared to be a mother, not willing to marry, victim of incest, and unable to raise the child alone, fetus indicates child will be a special needs baby and unable to handle the situation, and mother’s medical condition puts her at risk if she goes through child birth. There are many reasons offered.
One way to avoid unneeded pregnancies is through sex education and planned parenthood training including the use of birth control and contraceptive methods. If there is no conception, there can be no pregnancy. (Abstinence from sexual intercourse, of course, will also work. The “do without” route is a fully personal choice but worldwide is rarely successful in practice over time.)
So back to Cardinal Dolan.
The Obama Administration has made it a requirement for employers who offer health care coverage which includes free birth control and contraceptive methods. Common sense would scream out that this is such a logical method to aid families with family planning and to reduce significantly the occurrences of unwanted pregnancies.
That is not how the Catholic Church and Cardinal Dolan see it. This requirements is an assault on the first Amendment says Dolan. Say again?
The requirements to make birth control and contraceptive methods part of health care plans in no way requires anyone to use them. People are free still to not use contraception, get pregnant, and then be forced to agonizingly decide whether to seek a early termination to the pregnancy. Is that what the good Cardinal seeks?
Catholic doctrine unfortunately also shuns the use of any birth control technique other than abstinence. So the Cardinal’s perfect world would remove birth control and contraceptives from drug store shelves. I wonder whether he would consider that an assault on non-catholics?
The “outrages” part of Cardinal Dolan’s objections is that there are no requirements for anyone to use birth control or contraceptives. This is a secular choice. It is also wrong headed because birth control and contraceptives clearly can play an important role in reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies. But for a church that still holds that sex should be performed only for the purpose of procreating, this type of position should be “fully expected”.
I guess I am really glad the Constitution does say
“Congress shall make no law repecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free practice thereof…”
It tells me that Catholics are fully free to not use birth control or contraceptives even though these methods are part of their health care plans. It also tells me that non-catholic employees of Catholic organizations can receive these benefits and elect to use them if their religious belief allow.
Believe what you want, do as you believe, but don’t force your beliefs on others.
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Tags: cardinal tim dolan, catholic church, health care, pro-choice, pro-life, Religion
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January 27, 2012 at 2:59 am
And how many Presidents, Prime Ministers, and world leaders were not born as a result of artificial birth control? How many scientists that could have solved the world’s problems were never born? How many botanists that could have discovered a drug from a rainforest plant were never born? God only knows. And the real tragedy in this whole mess is that once a country decided that artificial birth control was now OK, abortion soon followed. In the US, the pill came out in the mid 1960′s. In 1973, the Supreme Court of the US invented a brand new constitutional right to an abortion, because the Constitution has an implied right to privacy in it – A new right to kill an unborn child based on an implied right that is nowhere to be found in the Constitution. This so-called right to privacy is a very selective right, as long as there are income tax forms that have to be filled out with all kinds of personal information, census forms that have to be filled out with all kinds of personal information, internet cookies that monitor what websites you go to so that the list can be sold to marketers, and airport scanners that can see through your clothes.
January 27, 2012 at 5:21 pm
There are two issue you miss… (1) the world already has more than enough people to produce all the Presidents and Prime Ministers the world will ever need… and (2) the issue about abortion and birth control are that women have inalienable rights to her own health… women can certainly decide to not use birth control or can choose not to end an unwanted pregnancy, that is their right… what is not their right or any man’s right is to tell another woman what to do…