PJ: Kind of makes you wonder if it was indeed a "gaffe" by the President or a carefully (albeit risky) political move to put Republicans in a corner on contraception and women's health issues. The GOP have responded to the Obama compromise enmasse, now saying that no employer should have to provide for employee's contraception and have even proposed legislation that will deny women of those insurance benefits. But with about 99% of all American women at some point using birth control* it seems as if the GOP has made this mole hill into a mountain of digust for the American public with some 58% supporting the president's position.
* Facts on Contraceptive use in the US: http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/fb_contr_use.html
Montreal Gazette
Obama gaffe in birth-control rule may end up helping him
By SHELDON ALBERTS
It really wouldn't be a proper U.S. election campaign with-out a serious skirmish in the nation's ever-simmering culture wars.
What's surprising about the fight now engulfing President Barack Obama, however, is the latest shots aren't being fired on the traditional political battlegrounds of gay marriage and abortion rights.
This tempest is about, of all things, the pill. Maybe you've been following this.
Obama, in one of the hastier retreats he's beaten as president, just backed off a plan to require religiousbased institutions in the U.S. to provide employees coverage for contraception in health insurance plans at no extra cost.
The reversal followed an outcry among an eclectic group that included the U.S Conference of Catholic Bishops, Republican presidential candidates and left-leaning Catholic media pundits typically supportive of Obama.
"This is obviously an issue where people of good will on both sides of the debate have been grappling to find a solution that works for everyone," one senior administration official said, adding "some more loudly than others."
Loudly, yes, very loudly.
Under the original rule, introduced in January, the administration required private health insurers to offer birth control pills and other preventive services for women "without charging a co-pay, co-insurance or a deductible."
For the great majority of American employers, this is not especially controversial - a version of the policy already exists in 28 states.
The rule also addressed a significant need. Nearly 99 per cent of American women have used contraception. According to the White House, "half the women between the ages of 18 and 34 have struggled to afford" the cost of contraception.
"No woman's health should depend on who she is, or where she works, or how much money she makes," Obama said, explaining the core principle behind the rule.
Again, this is a position with broad public support.
A Fox News poll this week found 61 per cent of Americans approved of requiring employer health plans to cover birth control.
Other polls have shown majority support even among Catholic women.
For the rest of the article:
http://www.montrealgazette.com/life/Obama+gaffe+birth+control+rule+helping/6143015/story.html
No comments:
Post a Comment