Friday, July 4, 2014

Further reflection on HobbyLobby

++Ruth Bader Ginsberg's dissent on Hobby Lobby pointed out all the different procedures that various different religions could object to that are currently covered by health insurance. The idea that Hobby Lobby was decided using religious reasoning is extremely problematic. Women rightfully object its targeting of women's preventive health care. I've pointed out that the ACA was aimed at ending the prejudice against women in health insurance.

++But one of the problems with having 6 Catholics and three Jews on the Supreme Court is that in such a case the protestant religious reasoning is missing. Protestants do not object to birth control and do not think IUDs and Plan B cause abortions. The primary objection to birth control in Christendom comes from the Catholic Church. Only by the Vatican's reasoning can you move from birth control directly to abortion. And Hobby Lobby itself is not a Catholic corporation.

++Pat Robertson said yesterday that he did not object to contraceptives. Even fundamentalist Christians do not think that married sex is evil and solely for the purpose of procreation. That is a Catholic thing. Frank Schaeffer has written how positively influential his fundamentalist mother was on his sexual attitudes. Where people get confused is the political alliance between evangelical Christians and Catholics on abortion. 

++There are several cases coming from corporations that "pretend" they are religious, which object to a host of medical procedures. Ruth Bader Ginsberg is right that this case has opened up a can of worms. 

++I have a question. From a religious point of view,mainstream protestants have not problem with sexual attitudes, even lifestyles. In fact, legal abortion is supported by a majority of these protestants. If you were going to write a list of religious priorities, the issues of war and peace seem to me to be larger than the issue of contraceptives, which was settled law before I became a teenager.

++If I have a corporation, why can I not object from "sincerely held religious beliefs" to paying that percentage of taxes that go to the Pentagon, NSA, and CIA. Unlike HobbyLobby, where their sincerity is questionable,in this case there would be no question and the appropriate religious texts could be quoted. Or is the "religious" corporation only to believe in things surrounding medical care? 

++Could we understand that 51% of women take contraceptives for migraines,cysts,acne,and other complications. Why isn't this covered? Why vasectomies and viagra are covered for men? In fact Sandra Fluke's defense of contraceptives was not for sexual reasons but for the medical problem of a friend. The ignorance about this issue is awesome. Sean Hannity kept peddling the idea that if women wanted to have sex they can always buy a box of condoms. The Supreme Court even said that the government could give away birth control to women separate from health insurance. Try that one out against the Hyde Amendments. 

++Already Hobby Lobby is being made an issue for the mid-terms. Scott Brown said yesterday that a corporation should be able to deny healthcare for women. I want to see what the Democrats make out of that. The full-throated embrace of the patriarchal should really go over well. Democrats are now zeroing in on single women for the mid-terms. The demographic changes in the country indicate that women are marrying later and have many relationships before then. The Democrats have already been trumpeting the war against women. This war is intensifying.

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