Gail Collins Gives Me Pause

| February 9, 2012 | 0 Comments

In today’s New York Times, Gail Collins takes on the contraception issue in a very powerful way. As noted elsewhere on this blog, I have expressed sympathy with the Catholic Church. I won’t restate my case, except to say I do respect the Church’s consistency on issues of procreation. Still, I can also see the other side and wish there was some way to “split the baby,” so to speak.

Here are the two most powerful excerpts from Ms. Collins’ piece:

When I was first married, my mother-in-law sat down at her kitchen table and told me about the day she went to confession and told the priest that she and her husband were using birth control. She had several young children, times were difficult — really, she could have produced a list of reasons longer than your arm.

“You’re no better than a whore on the street,” said the priest.

That just pisses me off. And then her summation:

We are arguing about whether women who do not agree with the church position, or who are often not even Catholic, should be denied health care coverage that everyone else gets because their employer has a religious objection to it. If so, what happens if an employer belongs to a religion that forbids certain types of blood transfusions? Or disapproves of any medical intervention to interfere with the working of God on the human body?

I had been thinking about the Christian Scientist. What do they do? Can they forbid coverage of any real treatment of their employees? I am also hearing that many states require this coverage without much controversy. If the Church is already offering such coverage, then the precedent is there. What are we arguing about?

It is a tough issue and I am getting wobbly.

Category: Healthcare Reform

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