What the Contraception Issue Is and Is Not About

In politics the most important thing is to understand what the argument is and is not about.

So let’s get clear about the dispute over the administration’s decision that contraception should be covered free of charge by all employer provided health insurance plans.

This issue is not about freedom of religion. It is about providing all women with access to effective and safest contraception. That is important to the health of women and their children, to insuring equality for women, and to the family.

The rule is good for the health of women, which is why it was called for by the non-partisan medical organization that advised the administration. When pregnancies are unplanned, women are less likely to get prenatal care and they and their children are less healthy. Women and children are also healthier when pregnancies are spaced out.

There rule is good for the equality of women, which is undermined when women are not in control of their fertility.

The rule is good for our families. Unplanned pregnancy is a leading cause of divorce.

And the rule is good for reducing the half of unplanned pregnancies that are aborted.

The Catholic Church has claimed, however, that it violates our freedom of religion if any business or organization—not just a Catholic one—is required to offer health insurance that covers abortion and has a moral objection to such insurance.

But stop and think and you will see that this claim makes no sense.

What does rule require? It doesn’t require that any one to use contraception or encourage others to do so. It doesn’t require anyone to pay for contraception. It doesn’t really require institutions or businesses to pay for health insurance that covers contraception, since health insurance is a form of employee compensation that ultimately is paid for by the employees. It doesn’t require anyone to pay more for health insurance since the cost of contraception is much less than that of pre-natal care, delivery, and care for newborns.

It just requires businesses and other organizations to arrange for contraception to be included in the health care plans offered by their insurance company. Yes, that did mean that, under the initial rule, institutions or people morally object to contraception will have to ask their insurance company to cover it. Under the new rule proposed on Friday, the government will require insurance companies to cover contraception. This minor change is possible because contraception reduces health care costs.

The new rule—which is really just an accounting change—has satisfied some Catholic leaders. It may not assuage the Bishops. But their claim was not in keeping with the reality of the world we live in , in which we often make arrangement or pay a small amount to support some policy to which we have religious objection.

If you have a religious objection to a war, you still have to pay taxes that support it. If you have a moral objection to imprisoning people for possessing marijuana, you still have to pay taxes to support that.

The US, unlike most other countries, provides health insurance through employers. Thus the only way for us to democratically decide that all women should have access to contraception is to regulate what those employers or insurers do. Indeed, employer based insurance receives a tax subsidy, so all of us have already been contributing a small amount every health insurance plan that now covers contraception.

Freedom of religion means we have a right to practice our religion. It does not mean that any individual who has a religious objection to some government policy has the right to refuse to pay taxes or take part in it. That is anarchy not freedom.

No church has ever condemned an individual for paying taxes that support government actions it thinks are wrong or for providing insurance that covers contraception.

Indeed, the President’s policy has mostly been in place since 2000 under an EEOC rule. Twenty eight states have a broader rule. Under these rules Catholic hospitals and universities such as the Jesuit University of Scranton offer health insurance plans that cover contraception. Neither the Catholic Church nor Republicans ever objected to them.

And that means that this dispute is really about two issues. It is about guaranteeing the availability of safe and effective contraception to all women. And it is about politics.

This dispute arose because the Bishops of a Church that opposed health care reform are using it to punish the Obama administration. And it is staying alive because cynical and dishonest Republicans are exploiting it