Men in Black

[paft.livejournal.com]

Here is a picture from today's House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing about the Obama administration's birth control mandate:



The first row are the allowed witnesses.

All those people a couple rows behind them? Well... those witnesses just don't fit in.

That's why most of the Democratic women on the committee walked out of the room.

Just now, Oklahoma GOP representative Jim Lankford implied that these men in black were being "berated" by the committee. In fact, they've mostly been getting strokes just short of full-body massages from most of the remaining committee members. This hearing is such a transparent and over-the-top, right wing extremist attack on the administration (one Representative invoked those dastardly laws against smoking in public buildings as a sign of the slippery slope the administration has set up) that clips from it should be used by Democrats in the upcoming election.

I cannot imagine any reasonable and honest person watching this hearing and not being appalled.


Partially crossposted from Thoughtcrimes

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Comments

[blue-mangos.livejournal.com]

You're here! Welcome.

[crystallinegirl.livejournal.com]

:)

Certain topics I just can't keep my mouth shut on...

Religious Freedom vs. Birth Control being one of those, because it's pure bullshit.

[blue-mangos.livejournal.com]

Well you are right. I am honestly surprised they're still playing that angle after the compromise Obama made. It's like they've gone this far, their choices were either to keep riding the train all the way or get off and admit they're lost. They've chosen to keep going, which is a very odd choice given the percentage of American women who've used contraception in their lives.

[crystallinegirl.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I found this interesting bit on abortion stats. Which is very different than contraception stats, but still intriguing.

http://www.prochoice.org/about_abortion/facts/women_who.html

Specifically this part:
Women who obtain abortions represent every religious affiliation. 13% of abortion patients describe themselves as born-again or Evangelical Christians; while 22% of U.S. women are Catholic, 27% of abortion patients say they are Catholics. (Original source has footnotes listing sources for their statistics)

[blue-mangos.livejournal.com]

I would imagine that there are some religious people who are not opposed to abortion but a big part of those statistics also has to be the whole 'the only moral abortion is my abortion' meme.

[badlydrawnjeff.livejournal.com]

Mainly because the compromise is anything but, as it still forces Catholic organizations to subsidize contraceptive coverage.

[blue-mangos.livejournal.com]

Admittedly I have not read all the details since it doesn't affect me given I live in a sane country but I thought the whole point of the compromise is it bypassed the Catholic organizations by requiring the insurance companies to provide the coverage to the women directly. Am I wrong in this?

[badlydrawnjeff.livejournal.com]

You're not, but that doesn't actually change anything. The insurance company has to charge for it somehow, so it becomes factored into the cost. Every insurer must provide this, so there's no option to not have it. There's no fundamental difference between a group paying for coverage that includes it versus a group paying for coverage that provides it.

[blue-mangos.livejournal.com]

Yes but the objection is not financial, it is moral and religious. This allows Catholic organizations the moral out. It frees them from directly supplying birth control coverage. That should be all that matters. To keep fighting this shows it is less about morals and more about devaluing and shaming women.

[badlydrawnjeff.livejournal.com]

To keep fighting this shows more about morals, because the issue is about supplying contraceptives under their name with their dollars. The issue is not about being able to afford it, and absolutely has nothing to do about the value of women - this battle would be identical if the contraceptive in question were condoms as well.

[fornikate.livejournal.com]

Therefore it's purely people trying to force their personal religious beliefs upon others, because they cannot even use money as an excuse.

[badlydrawnjeff.livejournal.com]

Not really. It's about Catholic organizations being Catholic. The expectation is already there. If I'm an atheist who works at a Catholic university, I fully expect (and am expected, at least while on the clock) to be treated with Catholic values and morals.

[fornikate.livejournal.com]

that's nice and all, but your bodily autonomy also occurs off the clock. their entire objection is bullshit, and you know it.

[badlydrawnjeff.livejournal.com]

Right, and the Catholic organizations are not asking to keep contraceptives off the insurance market, just that they be exempted from having to purchase/subsidize them. That's entirely reasonable, and you know it.

[fornikate.livejournal.com]

they aren't paying for it. insurance is.

[badlydrawnjeff.livejournal.com]

Insurance that is being paid for by the company.

[fornikate.livejournal.com]

so?

[badlydrawnjeff.livejournal.com]

So you still run into the same problem.