Pills and Pennies

[dv8nation.livejournal.com]

http://news.yahoo.com/u-health-body-recommends-birth-control-coverage-181409769.html

A U.S. medical advisory group recommended providing women free birth control and other preventive health services under the nation's healthcare overhaul.

The Institute of Medicine report, commissioned by the Obama administration, recommended that all U.S.-approved birth control methods -- including the "morning after pill," taken shortly after intercourse to forestall pregnancy -- be added to the federal government's list of preventive health services.

"The evidence supporting contraception is quite straightforward. It works," said Dr. Alfred Berg, a member of IOM's Committee on Preventive Services for Women.


Well, if it didn't work then there wouldn't be much point in selling it, would there? *ahem* Okay, smartass asides aside I fully agree with the this idea. People who aren't really interested in being parents tend to not make the best parents. Yes, I'm making a generalization. Live with it.

However, as expected, there is opposition to this.

Without sufficient legal protection for rights of conscience, such a mandate would force all men, women and children to carry health coverage that violates the deeply-held moral and religious convictions of many," said Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, chairman of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities of the bishops' conference.

Ya know, somehow I doubt little Johnny gives a fuck where the sales tax on his Slurpee will be spent by Uncle Sam. But I think this position is absurd. The US is a representative democracy. That means, for good or ill, the people we vote for get to decide how the $ gets spent. Complaining like this is like saying that a pacifist shouldn't have their tax dollars spent on jet fighters.

Top Gun hatin' hippies aside, it's just unworkable that we should all get to decide just where our tax dollars get spent. It would be a paperwork nightmare that makes dealing with a FAFSA seems like a walk in the park. Then there's collection and making sure every penny went where it was intended. Madness! Madness, I tell you.

Living according to your values is your job. Spending your taxes in whys that will benefit the US as a whole is the government's job.