3.03.2012

Not Getting It: What's Wrong with this Picture?

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It's funny listening to all the wingers complain about this contraception kerfuffle. Most of the arguments in favor of the so-called Blunt amendment's "conscience clause" run along the lines of "I shouldn't have to pay for some ho's birth control." I suppose these people think it's their tax dollars directly subsidizing the Hot Chix Free Sex Act or some such nonsense. In fact, what's happening here is that the religious scolds simply don't want private health insurance plans to cover contraception. That's way different, and it's an openly misgynist means of controlling womens' behavior. It has nothing to do with "your" tax dollars.

In the Sandra Fluke case, for example, she goes to Georgetown University, a private Catholic school in Washington DC. Georgetown offers health insurance to all its students and employees, covering everything from the common cold to a broken leg, from a cut on the finger to a lung transplant. The funding for that insurance comes from student fees, private donations and whatever other sources funds get bestowed on the school. What Georgetown doesn't want to do is use any of that money cover birth control, because the Catholic church is stuck in the 13th century.

President Obama, in his wisdom, has even given private schools and employers like Georgetown U. an out, but clearly that's not good enough, and the fact that it's not good enough is what reveals this whole debate for what it is: A blatant effort to control women's behavior.

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