The Catholic Church seems to be a magnet for bad press as of late. Between the Girl Scouts and contraception in general, I guess it’s a good time for them to hate women.
The Girl Scouts were the focus of an article in the Washington Post a little while back about how all Catholic churches are refusing to allow the troops to meet in their facilities. Their reason is that Girl Scouts support abortion.
More than once, the organization has clearly stated they have no position on those issues and those are best discussed with the girls and their families. I think this is the perfect stance for them given the highly personal nature of these issues. Yes, a majority of the national leadership is probably pro-choice but there are many participants (girls and troop leaders) who aren’t.
The Catholic church’s stance reminds me of an ultimatum one of my nuttier roommates when she declared war on one girl and some of us wanted to stay out of it: “By not taking a side, you’re taking her side.” By not taking a side,you’re not taking a side. That’s kinda how that works.
Barack Obama has been lobbying for Catholic run organizations like hospitals and a TV network watched by 334 people to include contraception in their health care plans. They say it’s a violation of their rights. I say they’re full of something other than the Holy Spirit.
Yes, the primary point of contraception is to not get pregnant. However, it also has these handy side effects of limiting the length of your cycle and severity of your symptoms. The primary reason I stay on it, despite being single, is so I can plan when I might get one of my rare but debilitating migraines. Some women get cramps so severe walking is difficult or flu-like nausea.
Not all women have extreme symptoms and some women who do don’t get them all the time. You can’t know which month Mother Nature decides you’re going down. The pill is the primary way I know to treat some of these fun and unpredictable aspects of being a woman.
Plus, not everybody who works in these places is a Catholic. In this economy, a job is a job. You might be a Jewish nurse who needed a paycheck and St Mary’s was hiring. You might be an atheist ex-con who learned how to work a camera serving your time and Catholic TV is willing to take a chance. You might kick it Jesus-style but also believe children are better off planned. It is completely unfair for your employer to decide whether or not you can afford to do that.
According to these groups, denying their employees access to contraception for medical reasons is their constitutional right. What about the rights of employees who are having their healthcare dictated by a religion they don’t follow? Isn’t that a violation of their rights? Yes, these are religious organizations but if that’s allowed to stand, several business will grab a religion just to save money, employee welfare be damned.
Every time a ‘Christian’ group pulls something like this, I can’t help but think WWJD? Who would Jesus deny full healthcare to? Who would Jesus turn away? So far, I have no good answers to those questions.
Current Music: Storytime -Nightwish
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