President Obama has taken steps to quash the latest uproar over contraceptives, medical insurance and religious freedom by announcing that his Administration will re-write federal health insurance regulations to allow Catholic and other religious institutions to "opt out" of providing medical insurance coverage for contraceptives as part of the insurance coverage those institutions provide to their employees. That means that while Catholic priests won't be forced to wear condoms, they will have to pay for them out of their own pockets if they choose to do so. That seems only fair.
Studies have also suggested that as many as 2/3 of Catholic women in America use or have used birth control pills in spite of the ban on such medication issued by the Vatican. Of course, the Vatican doesn't put bread on the average Catholic table, or pay any of the $200,000 plus it takes to raise a kid these days, so I can understand why many Catholic women (and their husbands too) would ignore the edicts handed down by their church hierarchy. If there's one thing that's painfully obvious to all except a bunch of bishops, cardinals and the pope, it's that Catholic leadership doesn't have a clue when it comes to sexual matters. They may think they do, but they don't. (See, Exhibit # 1...the widespread priest sex abuse of children scandal)
Still, I have to hand it to the President for showing some flexibility when it comes to the contraceptive issue because there are a lot of people who have genuine religious views on the matter and their conscientious objections are just as valid as those who think that contraceptive use is morally acceptable. Early indications are that Catholic groups, including Bishops and Catholic hospitals, are happy about the President's accommodations. So is the Planned Parenthood organization, which might sound odd at first, but that's because the new Obama Administrations rules will force insurance carriers to offer contraceptive coverage for free in exchange for government payments. It's a win-win for all sides. Watch Congress jump in and screw things up. Yeah - I'm jaded.
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