Thread: Is Free Birth Control like 9/11 and Pearl Harbor?

Republican likens contraception mandate to Pearl Harbor, 911

Pennsylvania Rep. Mike Kelly (R), an ardent opponent of abortion rights, said that today's date would live in infamy alongside those two other historic occasions. Wednesday marked the day on which a controversial new requirement by the Department of Health and Human Services, which requires health insurance companies to cover contraceptive services for women, goes into effect.


"I know in your mind you can think of times when America was attacked. One is December 7th, that's Pearl Harbor day. The other is September 11th, and that's the day of the terrorist attack," Kelly said at a press conference on Capitol Hill. "I want you to remember August the 1st, 2012, the attack on our religious freedom. That is a day that will live in infamy, along with those other dates."

He's talking, of course, about the mandate that insurance companies cover birth control without copays.

So is that (in any way, at all) like 9/11 or Pearl Harbor, or is he maybe being a little histrionic?

Also, is the fact that insurance companies can't refuse to cover birth control an "attack on religious freedom?" If so, how so?

A lot histrionic.

Originally Posted by blather

A lot histrionic.

^ This!
I did a huge eye roll when I read his quote... Dear goodness.

Who wouldn't remember today? Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day, Free Birth Control Day. Oh right...no one will remember as soon as the media decides there's something else going on in the country.

How stupid. Yes, free consultations with a doctor on birth control, requiring some form of coverage for birth control (and for the record it's basically free generic pills for pharmacy coverages not ALL birth control pills) is exactly like war and the deaths of innocent people. What a turd.

There is no attack on religious freedoms. No one is telling you you have to take birth control. *THAT* would be an attack on your freedoms. Not that an insurance company has to provide coverage for it.

I vote that Conservatives aren't allowed to act like "The War On Women" is liberal propaganda if they're going to go ahead and use war imagery themselves. :P

I deleted my post because in rereading it I felt it was not very kind.

It is this kind of theatrics showboating that makes me cringe and a little embarrassed to be a republican today. I can think of a lot of things he could have said about today that would have be impactfull and not made him look like an ***.

I am not happy that employers are mandated to cover birth control, I do believe that infringes on religious freedom.

Originally Posted by mom3girls

It is this kind of theatrics showboating that makes me cringe and a little embarrassed to be a republican today. I can think of a lot of things he could have said about today that would have be impactfull and not made him look like an ***.

I am not happy that employers are mandated to cover birth control, I do believe that infringes on religious freedom.

Can you explain about the religious freedom part? My understanding is that all insurance companies have to cover it, so it's not really about individual employers. Also, how is allowing women to choose for themselves whether or not they use bc an infringement of anyone's religious freedom? Since when does religious freedom = the right to tell your employees what medicines they allowed to take?

Originally Posted by Alissa_Sal

Can you explain about the religious freedom part? My understanding is that all insurance companies have to cover it, so it's not really about individual employers. Also, how is allowing women to choose for themselves whether or not they use bc an infringement of anyone's religious freedom? Since when does religious freedom = the right to tell your employees what medicines they allowed to take?

Who pays for the insurance? The employer. So if the Catholic church is the employer and they have to pay for someone to get a morning after pill (which is included as contraception) that they believe is an abortion, you are infringing on their reglious freedom not to pay for an abortion.