Month: October 2011

You know that thuggish contraception policy that President Obama’s administration recently proposed as part of their implementation of ObamaCare?

The one whose public comment period ended last Friday?

The one that the U.S. bishops were frantically trying to get Catholics to contact Health and Human Services and oppose?

The one that the bishops’ attorneys said “represents an unprecedented attack on religious liberty”?

The one that they also said involves a mandate that is “unprecedented in federal law and more radical than any state contraceptive mandate enacted to date”?

The one that would require many Catholic agencies to stop offering insurance to their employees because it would require their insurance policies to cover contraception?

The one that would force countless Catholics to buy insurance plans that fund contraception?

Yeah, that’s the one.

You know what?

President Obama is really proud of it

Here’s an exchange that took place at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser in St. Louis on Tuesday, according to the official White House transcript:

We repealed “don’t ask, don’t tell” so that every single American can serve their country, regardless of who they love.  (Applause.)  And, yes, we passed health care reform because no one in America should go bankrupt because somebody in their family gets sick.  (Applause.)

Insurance companies can’t drop your coverage for no good reason.  They won’t be able to deny your coverage because of preexisting conditions.  Think about what that means for families all across America.  Think about what it means for women.

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Birth control—

THE PRESIDENT:  Absolutely.  You’re stealing my line.  (Applause.)  Breast cancer, cervical cancer are no longer preexisting conditions.  No longer can insurance companies discriminate against women just because you guys are the ones who have to give birth.  (Laughter.)

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Darn right!

THE PRESIDENT:  Darn tooting.  (Laughter.)  They have to cover things like mammograms and contraception as preventive care, no more out-of-pocket costs.

To put this in perspective, here’s some perspective from CNSnews:

The proposed regulation, designed to implement part of Obamacare, will require all private health plans in the United States to cover sterilizations and all FDA-approved contraceptives—including those that cause abortions—without charging any fees or co-pay. These regulations were drawn to implement a provision in Obama’s health-care law that calls for all health-care plans to cover “preventive services.”

Combined with Obamacare’s mandate that all individuals must buy health insurance, the “preventive services” regulation would require all American Catholics to buy health care plans that pay for sterilizations, contraceptives and abortions—all of which violate Catholic moral teaching.

A “religious exemption” in the regulation is so narrowly drawn that it does not include any lay Catholics, or any Catholic hospitals, charitable organizations, or colleges or universities. Thus, many major Catholic institutions in the United States would be forced to choose between dropping health insurance coverage for their employees and students or violating the moral teachings of their own church.

And here’s more on how it would impact Catholic organizations.

So let’s think about this for a moment.

Obama wants no out-of-pocket costs for contraception as “preventative care.” What exactly is being prevented? The conception (or at least the successful delivery) of babies.

Now the thing about babies is, they cost money up front, but then they also generate jobs as a result.

What does President Obama say he wants to create?

Jobs.

Okay, and then once the babies grow up they go out on their own and work, becoming people who contribute to the economy, which means . . . more jobs.

They also pay taxes.

What else does President Obama want?

More tax revenue.

And some of the taxes that the now-grown-up-babies would pay would be Social Security taxes used to care for the elderly. Social Security is currently broken and to be fixed must have an increase of revenue or a reduction of benefits or both. The taxes paid by the now-grown-up-babies would represent an increase of revenue for Social Security.

What else does President Obama want?

A way to increase revenue for Social Security.

So by his policy of making contraception easier to obtain (no out-of-pocket costs) as “preventative care,” President Obama seems to want to prevent the very things he says he desires.

This is one of those classic “sin makes you stupid” situations, isn’t it.

What do you think?