Contraception Controversy

You may have recently heard about the Obama administration trying to compel Catholic institutions to include coverage for contraceptives for women in their insurance. And you may have heard a strong Catholic backlash, as contraceptives are a no no in Catholic doctrine. And finally you may have heard significant backpedalling from the administration.


Despite the fact that I am opposed to a great many healthcare reforms that have gone on of late, I feel like the President may have the right of things on this one. 


I recognize, and respect the Catholic position on contraception, despite personally believing it's an archaic throwback to a time when population growth was desirable, not to mention a good way to grow your ranks as a religious organization. If that's what Catholics want to believe and practice, for any reason, they're free to.


However, the cynic in me says that not all Catholics (perhaps not even most in first world countries), shun contraception. Couple that with the fact that in many institutions that would be impacted by this mandate, like schools affiliated with the Catholic Church, there are non-Catholic employees, and you can see that some women will probably benefit from this mandate.


Now, I'm not a theologian, nor am I an expert on Christianity, or the Catholic brand of faith, but I seem to recall hearing somewhere that free will plays a pretty big part in all of it. That being said, I feel like the onus to keep good Catholics from making use of contraception lies with the church. So, if there are too many "bad" Catholic women using birth control, it's up to the church to persuade them, not prevent them. 


Honestly, from the Catholic perspective, the contraception taboo is doctrinal, and therefore important. However, the Ten Commandments are, if memory serves, also pretty important to Catholics. Taking a look at the Tenth of said Commandments, God admonishes us not to covet our neighbors' house, stuff and/or wives. 


If the Catholic Church feels that they shouldn't provide access to contraception, for women who might or might not wish to make use of it, because it is frowned upon in their religious doctrine, then by the same logic, the Catholic Church should prevent Catholics from having neighbors, and certainly not married ones, with stuff, lest their parishioners become covetous.


Yes, I took that to an extreme, but sometimes the most extreme points are the most illustrative. At the end of the day, be reasonable. If a woman wants to use birth control, regardless of her faith, she's going to, so long as she can afford it. Providing an allowance for that option is not tantamount to encouraging it. If you don't want people to use birth control, like you don't want people coveting their neighbors' stuff and wives, show them why they shouldn't, don't throw up preventative barriers.