Patriarchs and Birth Control

We’re witnessing what is hopefully the last gasp of patriarchy here, folks.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-*ssh*l*) held a press conference yesterday to announce that Republicans will move forward with legislation allowing any employer to refuse to provide contraception coverage as part of employees’ health care benefits.

Mitch McConnell

Even though polls show that most Americans support the use of birth control and want insurance companies to provide it, Republicans apparently think it’s better to pander to religious zealots than to develop sound public policy through compromise and diplomacy.

The White House originally wanted to require hospitals and schools with religious ties to offer full birth control coverage. Religious folks – mainly Catholics – opposed that proposal so President Obama tried to do what elected officials used to do in the old days: compromise.

Last Friday he held a press conference to announce that religiously-affiliated universities and hospitals won’t be forced to offer contraception coverage to their employees, but insurance companies will be required to offer complete and free coverage to any women who work at these institutions.

The insurance companies – which contribute staggering amounts of cash to politicians on both sides of the aisle – don’t like the new plan, of course. (In 2007 and 2008, the insurance industry contributed a record $46.7 million to federal parties and candidates, with the majority of those donations going to Republicans, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.) And Catholic bishops say the president’s compromise proposal is unacceptable.

Why we’re letting the same people who for years covered up the systemic sexual abuse of thousands of children by priests dictate national health care policy is beyond me.

Aren’t we paying for comprehensive health insurance coverage for politicians?

And if it’s too costly to cover birth control pills as the insurance companies claim, then why isn’t it too expensive to pay for Viagra prescriptions, which many of them cover?

Studies have shown that women of reproductive age spend about two-thirds more than men on out-of-pocket health care. (Birth control and reproductive health care are believed to account for much of the difference.) Studies have also found that for every dollar of public funds invested in family planning, $4 to $14 are saved in pregnancy and health care-related costs.

Let’s keep as many women barefoot and pregnant as we can, huh, guys? And let’s make sure there’s no shortage of prospective altar boys and children’s choir members, right, priests and bishops?

Incidentally, this is solid proof that at times there are in fact huge differences between Democrats and Republicans. At times like this, I’m reminded of why I’d sooner take a sharp hatchet to my own digits than support a conservative politician – especially one who wants to remove the already-crumbling wall between church and state that was “erected” by the Founding Fathers.

Speaking of Republicans, one commenter posted the following at Talking Points Memo: “Give my regards to the Whigs and the Federalists when you get to the ash heap, guys.”

Sources: Talking Points Memo, Center for Responsive Politics, CNN, ABC News.