The live free or die in childbirth state
by digby
When New Hampshire says it's all about freedom, I'm not sure I understood it to mean this. And apparently, neither did the people who are now claiming it until five minutes ago. I guess they've had a revelation:
New Hampshire, one of the least religious states in the nation, has become the latest front in the political battle over contraception. State GOP leaders oppose the new federal rule compelling insurers to provide birth control to employees of religious organizations. They want to change a 12-year-old state law that requires contraceptive coverage under insurers' prescription drug policies.
It's hard to miss the politics fueling state House Speaker William O'Brien's push to carve out a religious exemption from the contraception mandate.
"The Obama administration is trying to divide this country and to divide women against Catholics," O'Brien said. "The amendment before you, however, is a way of guaranteeing religious freedom by ensuring that we are not forcing employers to purchase health care coverage that violates their belief."
New Hampshire has required contraceptive coverage in all prescription drug plans since 2000. The law was passed by a Republican Legislature and signed by a Democratic governor. Nobody at the time, it seems, saw the policy as a blow against religious liberty.
Democratic state Rep. Terie Norelli, who co-sponsored the law, said that objection never came up.
"There was no discussion whatsoever — I even went back and looked at the history from the bill," she said. "There was not one comment about religious freedoms."
It wasn't just lawmakers who were silent; religious leaders were, too.
"I wasn't here back in 1999," said Diane Murphy Quinlan, chancellor of the Catholic Diocese of Manchester, "and we didn't have a full-time lobbyist in the Legislature. It's possible that it was missed."
Ooopsie. Of course, the Catholic Church was very busy during that period if you know what I mean. They can't keep tabs on everything.
But this religious freedom thing didn't really come out of nowhere as we've discussed here before. Here's Right Wing Watch on one of the major promoters of the "religious freedom" concept discussing one of the main thrusts of their platform:
FRC and allies like the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, have an odd of understanding of freedom. It’s really just the freedom for everyone to live according to their religion, and only a very narrow interpretation at that. Monahan, who holds a master’s degree in theology of marriage and family from the Pope John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family, is no exception.
In a blog post from January entitled “A Pro-Life Hero: Minka Disbrow,” Monahan wrote the following:
In 1928, as a young and innocent teenager, Minka Disbrow lived in South Dakota and worked on a dairy farm. One day while enjoying a picnic, Minka and a friend were jumped by three men and raped. Innocent to the degree that she didn’t comprehend how babies were created, months later the 17-year-old Minka was confused and surprised to find her body changing and growing. Her parents soon found an adoption agency.
In a similar story, Ryan Bomberger, of the Radiance Foundation was conceived in an act rape. Like Minka, Ryan’s mother chose to carry her child to term. Ryan now dedicates his life to promoting and protecting the dignity of every person. For a recent lecture by Ryan on the hope and joy of adoption click here.
All can agree that rape is a horrific act of violence that no one should ever undergo. But abortion after a rape robs an innocent victim of a very beautiful life.
While it’s incredible that Monahan would suggest that Minka Disbrow “chose to carry her child to term,” given the description she provided, the bigger issue is that she would force a woman to give birth to her rapist’s child.
In a column from last November, Monahan spoke out against providing the full range of medical care to female victims of human trafficking. Her overriding concern was that women who had become pregnant after being raped might choose abortion:
Evidence exists that shows women who seek an abortion after rape add to their suffering: they now struggle with the coupled pain of the rape and the abortion; the abortion can become what some have termed “a second rape.”
Additionally, a recent peer-reviewed meta-analysis published in the British Journal of Psychiatry revealed that women who choose abortion have a significant increase in mental health problems including depression, anxiety and suicidal behaviors. A situation where a woman is trafficked and becomes pregnant is extremely difficult, but such women deserve loving and honest care and attention, and abortion is not part of that.
That was the woman they chose to testify before congress about contraception and "religious freedom."
And no, no evidence of that exists at all that women who are raped struggle with the fact that they had an abortion if they chose one. The idea that these authoritarian busybodies are making such insanely cruel arguments on the basis of "freedom" is enough to make you crazy.
Rush is a disgusting misogynist pig and calling a woman a slut and a whore because she testified about birth control deserves all the blowback he's getting. If we're lucky it might even be the beginning of the end for him. But I'll be curious to see if this firestorm against him will result in the conservatives pulling back on the religious liberty strategy. They seem to be pretty committed to it.
Update: Well, the national GOPers aren't backing down yet:
Democrats are largely to blame for the name-calling and personal insults of the contraception debate, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) charged Friday.
Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh has spent part of his last three shows referring to a Georgetown University law student as a “slut” with “boyfriends ... lined up around the block.” But Issa said Democrats are also complicit in the deteriorating rhetoric, accusing them of insulting people of faith.
Issa shot back Friday against Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), who had asked the Oversight Committee chairman to disavow Limbaugh’s comments.
“While your letter raises important concerns about these inappropriate comments and the tone of the current debate over religious freedom and Obamacare, I am struck by your clear failure to recognize your own contributions to the denigration of this discussion and attacks on people of religious faith,” Issa said in response to Cummings.
I'm remembering an earlier Rush firestorm in which he called veterans "phony soldiers." They stood by that, so it's certainly possible they'll stand by his sluts and whores comments. I'm fairly sure they have more empathy for soldiers than they do for women.
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