Stop the Assault on Religious Liberty: Voice Dissent Over Obama’s Contraception Mandate
February 23, 2012 2 Comments
Obama’s contraception mandate has angered many people, and it rightly should. If this policy is enforced and shoved down our throats, religious liberty will be further undermined.
When I was in the studio last week (for those of you unaware, I’m the Executive Assistant for The Rick Amato Show), I had a delightful conversation with Thomas McKenna (one of our guests) about the implications of the birth control mandate. Our talk ranged from Catholicism in Lithuania (my ancestral homeland is ethnically and culturally Catholic. I discovered that his sister-in-law is Lithuanian) to Proposition 8 (we were dismayed by the recent 9th Circuit Court of Appeal ruling to overturn it). He represents St. Gianna Physician’s Guild, which works closely with the Archdiocese of San Diego and is doing its part to bring awareness to this invasive policy here.
Here’s more information about St. Gianna Physician’s Guild:
The mission of St. Gianna Physician’s Guild is to unite and encourage Catholic physicians, and those in the health care profession, to promote and defend Catholic principles in a public way by word and example, and to inspire sanctification in their lives.
It seeks to use the influence and expertise of the medical profession to clarify and support sound ethics and morality in the practice of medicine and proclaim them in the public forum. As a way of promoting these values in the personal lives of the faithful, the Guild has a special devotional outreach to promotes and teach about the life and virtues of their patron, St. Gianna Beretta Molla, a dedicated wife, mother and physician who lived and practiced her faith in an exemplar way in the 20th century.
The group has an online petition available for people to sign. Below is an outline of the petition’s objective:
This new directive by the Obama Administration is:
- Undermining: The U.S Department of Health and Human Service’s adoption of the Institute of Medicine’s recommendation that contraceptive services be provided for all women is contrary to Catholic moral teaching and undermines fundamental principles of the Catholic Faith. ["Legitimate intentions on the part of the spouses do not justify recourse to morally unacceptable means . . . for example, direct sterilization or contraception." (Catechism of the Catholic Church #2399)]
- Deceptive: Many FDA approved birth control methods are classified as a Group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency of Cancer Research (IACR), a research arm of the World Health Organization (WHO) and categorized in the same group as cigarettes and asbestos.
- Discriminatory Against Catholic Institutions: It violates the freedom of conscience and freedom to practice religion guaranteed by the Constitution, specifically targeting Catholic hospitals, clinics, parishes, social services, schools and other Catholic institutions under the new rule compelling them to act contrary to Catholic teaching on life and procreation unless they stop hiring and serving non-Catholics.
- Biased Against Catholic Health Care Professionals: A direct attack on Catholic doctors, nurses, and other healthcare workers who are not provided a “conscience clause” to opt out of providing medical services that are contrary to their religious beliefs.
- Misleading: Increased access to birth control will actually increase (not decrease) the need for abortion. The Guttmacher Institute, a research arm of Planned Parenthood, admits that their research reveals that over 50% of women show up at abortion clinics for an abortion due to failed birth control.
- Bad Medicine: Encourages unhealthy and immoral sexual practices which will drive the need for more health care services in the area of STD treatment and abortion services.
- Lacking Transparency: This mandate reveals shameless abortion rights advocacy by the Obama Administration as they are well aware that birth control distribution is the feeder system of the profitable abortion industry.
Therefore, we petition the Obama Administration and Secretary Sebelius to immediately withdraw all references to contraception and contraception counseling from the “Guidelines for Women’s Preventive Services” under The Affordable Care Act, and to provide a CONSCIENCE CLAUSE to protect the religious freedom and beliefs of Catholics and other Americans who are opposed to contraception.
Over 26,000 signatures have been collected so far. Be sure to visit StoptheBirthControlMandate.org to sign the petition and stand in solidarity against the attack on religious liberty.
Related articles
- Cardinal Dolan’s Health-Care Hypocrisy (thedailybeast.com)
- Nancy Pelosi: The Iron-ing Lady (neosecularist.com)
- Bishops decry Obama birth control plan, yet Catholic hospitals report sterilizations (philly.com)
- Scraping meatless Fridays & embracing contraception By KRISTINA JOHANNES (deaconjohnspace.wordpress.com)
- The Birth Control Mandate Controversy (allopinionswelcome.wordpress.com)
About Gabriella Hoffman
I may or may not agree with the RC Church on this (as it happens, I pretty much do) but the essence of the liberty this country was founded on is that the individual conscience is sovereign. On that there is no room for discussion. Well done, and keep the faith.
Gabriella -
The contraceptive mandate not only steps on the toes of the First Amendment, it pretends the Tenth Amendment no longer exists. The National Government has no more right to require contraceptive coverage for employees at the University of Notre Dame as it has to mandate Highmark BlueCross to cover chiropractic services, Ritalin or aromatherapy. Obamacare is not merely an affront to religious freedom; it is a breathtakingly vicious assault on the American constitution.
The Sweaty Federalist