Comments on: Planned Parenthood Defends Obama Against Catholic Criticism

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 18:12:27 +0000

Liberal Catholics? No such thing. If so can one be a liberal racist?

By: Angela

Angela — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 16:07:09 +0000

I do not understand why anyone wants a socialist government and society. Looking at other countries, it is clear that socialized medicine does not work. There are long waiting lists for treatment etc. No matter what your belief is, you need to really examine if the government is trying to force a religious institution to act against it’s beliefs and if so this is truly a first amendment issue and an attack against the Freedom of Religion. If Catholic woman have an issue with the Catholic beliefs then they need to take that up with the Catholic leaders…it is none of the government’s business. Other sects receive government funding (ie Medicaid etc.) and yet they have received exemptions from the law. For example, the Amish do not have to send their children to school after the 8th grade. Yet, the Amish receive medical assistance. Even if you believe that the Catholic churches beliefs are not up to date, you should be very concerned about the preservation of separation of church and state no matter what your religion is or lack thereof! It’s a slippery slope. I don’t understand why anyone would want to be so dependent on the government.

By: Just reading your comments

Just reading your comments — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 02:53:33 +0000

I don’t know much about politics. But I’ve been reading what you all have commented and I just want to mention some things.
Birth control can be used for other medical issues and not just for pregnancy. I know this because some of my siblings use it.
Yes Catholics believe women shouldn’t use it for the reason not to have a baby. But they understand if you have other issues for example cramps, extreme head aches and so on.
I think the government should just leave them alone because everything was just fine before all this came up.
They run shelters, hospitals, orphanages and so on not just because of the money but they want to take care of everyone. They deserve to be healthy and cared for.
Again I don’t know much but I’m a Catholic and I think this is all useless arguing.

By: James

James — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:22:23 +0000

No one is making them take birth control. If there teaching is against birth control then just don’t purchase them. Churches also teach against a lot of things that are freely available to us like Alcohol, gambling, pornography etc. Nobody makes us go get these things but if people decide that’s what they want you can’t stop them even if they decided to pay for it. Nobody is distributing birth control to their churches so I can’t understand the big deal of the whole matter. Sex before marriage is a sin and I’m sure they teach that too but that doesn’t stop people. It’s simple if you don’t want the pills and you teach against it just don’t go get them! How bout that!

By: Mimi Anderson

Mimi Anderson — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:56:46 +0000

The HHS mandate is not just about contraception, but also the abortion pill and sterilization. The fact that there are Catholics who use contraceptives does not negate the fact that use thereof is considered a sin, thus the Church advises the faithful not to use them. A conscious clause does not mean that employees of Catholic institutions are prevented from seeking coverage for their elective birth control, morning-after pills, and sterilization elsewhere. But to require faith-based groups to violate their conscious IS a violation of the constitutionally guaranteed right to free exercise of religion, specifically: the State interferring with the Church.

By: hurricane

hurricane — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:50:29 +0000

It is not just the Catholic hospitals that much provide birth control, abortion and sterilization services in its health care plans, it is also the schools. The argument above is that since the Catholic hospitals receive government funds they should have to provide these services, but Catholic schools do NOT receive government funding, so what’s the logic behind making them comply? We may have to close our parish school next year, how does that fit the logic here?

Why do these plans have to offer these services without co-pays? I am a woman with a life threatening illness and when I go to the doctor, to the pharmacy, to the hospital, I have to pay a co-pay for all my services. I don’t have the government stepping in and making someone else provide and pay for my medical needs. I pay for what my healthcare plan does not pay. That’s the way it works. Birth control is optional, whether you are taking it to prevent pregnancy or to prevent migraines or heavy menstrual periods. You will not die if you do not take birth control. I, however, will die if I do not take my necessary medications – and since I need those medications to live, I have to make my co-pay.

Anyone out there willing to help me make my co-pays? Or to force the government to make my insurance company waive my co-pays so I can have my life saving medications?

This isn’t just about health plans being forced to offer these services, it’s about the fact that they have to provide them for free.

By: HOPE

HOPE — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 23:02:19 +0000

How can anyone equate birth control including the morning after pill with”murder”? I once heard a very kind man make this statement and I have never forgotten it and I think most people would agree. If there were an embryo in a petri dish and your very elderly grandmother BOTH in a room which suddenly became engulfed in flames, and you could only rescue one, which would you grab.
Without a question I think most of us would grab our grandmother. There is so much claptrap about life and the value of it, the scripture made it clear about one thing …”The greatest of these is LOVE”. I think organized religion can place more emphasis on the mechanics of worship and neglect the main focal point of the message.

By: sirlafay

sirlafay — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 19:05:12 +0000

This is not just a Catholic issue. Tell me why the goverenrment should be telling anyone they have to buy birth control for anyone else.

Birth control is not just a women’s issue. If an employer is required to pay insurance that covers free birth control pills, shoudn’t the employer also be required to buy insurance that provides equal protection for males by paying for their condoms ?

By: betsy

betsy — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 02:23:20 +0000

Well, um ,”Timmaahhhh”, as a previous commentor stated, no one is forbidding those employees from going out and getting birth control or taking the morning after pill. In fact, right now plenty, if not most, of insurance plans do not cover either (in full at least). But since the employees made the decision to work for a private religious organization, they submit to that organization’s beliefs, at least as far as something this intrinsic to Church doctrine goes. It’s not like someone tracked down an atheist and forced them at gunpoint to work for Catholic Charity B or what have you. Bottom line, I have a problem with federal funds going toward abortions in *general*, but I have a big First Amendment problem with forcing a religious organization to disregard its beliefs because the goverment-meant to be completely separate from the church-is forcing them to.
PS..though my world view isn’t made up primarily of lines from South Park, I assure you it’s not narrow.

By: timmmahhhh

timmmahhhh — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 01:15:18 +0000

“How come liberals are so “rah-rah separation of church and state’ when someone tries to be spiritual in a school or local goverment but don’t give a flying feather about it when the federal government swoops in to force Catholic charities to contirbute funds to contraceptives and abortion drugs? Unreal. Such hypocrites.”
Well Betsy, did you ever think that not everybody that works for a Catholic organization is a Catholic? They do have to hire people from other creeds, you know, that little law that talks about not discriminating against one for age, sex, religion, etc. THAT is why this law is in place. I know your world view is probably too narrow for you to grasp that but I thought I would at least give it a shot.