Birth control.
As college students, as females, as males, as people in a functioning, sexual society, the importance of birth control cannot be underestimated. It’s the difference between a good time and a horrible mistake. It’s a fond memory versus a life-changing decision.
The main opponents of contraception are religious groups, and this reality makes legislature on providing contraception more difficult than it should be.
President Obama unveiled a plan last month that would guarantee women no-cost access to birth control as it will be a requirement for employers to provide it to their female employees. At the same time, Obama is attempting to placate religious organizations that are anti-contraceptives by allowing churches as well as religious-affiliated universities, hospitals and similar organizations to choose to not be a part of his new plan. Women who work at these organizations, however, will still have access to free birth control through the organization’s insurance, a requirement of Obama’s plan that both allows for religious choice and women’s rights. And insured employees, regardless of the religion-based group for whom they work, will receive free contraceptives if they are insured.
Many Republicans and religious organizations, such as the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops@@http://usccb.org/@@, are still angry about this legislation, claiming that unless churches and religion-sponsored work places have full exemption from this law, it is an example of religious persecution.
And I say that not providing a woman with free birth control is gender persecution.@@right on@@
Obama’s plan would not require religiously affiliated organizations to provide contraception to their employees — it would require the organizations’ insurance companies to provide it. But apparently having a choice to follow their own beliefs is not enough — the private lives of their employees should be restricted as well.
Birth control is a touchy subject for reasons I cannot fathom. It’s a means to fight sexually transmitted diseases. It’s a means to avoid unwanted pregnancy, an event that leads to financial depression, child neglect, overpopulation and abortion.
But according to some conservative groups, birth control is just another variation of abortion. At the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday, Obama’s plan was labeled the “abortion mandate.”
Family Research Council President Tony Perkins was quoted by The American Independent as saying the mandate “only creates some paperwork gimmicks that don’t change the fact that religious employers who object to coverage of these services will now have to drop health insurance altogether to maintain their conscience and face severe penalties for doing so.” This logic is harmful and ironically lacks any sort of basic human compassion. These individuals claim to value life, but would so easily cut off medical insurance to avoid religious indignity.
The fact is, women who work for these organizations are not required to take advantage of their employee medical insurance’s free birth control. This is an individual woman’s right to choose. If these insurance companies were bursting into the organizations, condom-guns ablaze, or slipping Plan B into the break room coffee, hey, I’d understand the reluctance. But they are not. And if religious groups have so little faith that their female workers hold the same twisted values about sex as they do, then clearly the problem does not lie with Obama’s plan.
Medical insurances should be required to provide birth control. Religiously run organizations should not be required to. This is what Obama’s mandate has made happen. Any further complaints on the part of conservative and religious groups is not a sign of the government persecuting religion, but of these groups attempting to persecute everyone else.
As University students, our access to free contraceptives is easier than most. We have Planned Parenthood, the ASUO Women’s Center, the University Health Center, as well as various events such as the annual Condom Fashion Show. Go to any campus fair and some student group has stamped their name on a bowl of free condoms. We are lucky. But this access should not be restricted simply because of where we chose to be employed.