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Early February, 2012 • Warren County Report • Page 17
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The Freedom Debate
A different Catholic perspective lauds HHS announcement guessing he is a Republican. But I don’t believe it is truly Republican to ask for the use of governmental intervention to ride roughshod over the opinions of others.
To say I care about the bishops’ opinion more than that of others, I find ludicrous and laughable because they are speaking from their own special interests.”
WOW, not even as black and white an issue within the Catholic community as we may have been led to believe.
GOLD’S GYM Catholics for Choice President Jon O’Brien says the bishops are crying “Wolf”.
By Roger Bianchini Warren County Report As we said in one of two related articles, the conflicting issues of women’s rights to reproductive choice versus religious freedom are multi-faceted and complex. In fact, the moral outrage and alarm expressed by the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops and other pro-fetal life Catholic advocates does not even represent the opinion of all Catholics and Catholic organizations. In a Jan. 20 statement on its website, Catholics for Choice lauded the Health & Human Services announcement of deadlines and continued parameters for religious exemptions to health care providers on the provision of birth control without co-pays or deductibles. Under the headline “President Obama Finally Does the Right Thing for Women” CFC states, “President Obama listened to all of the women and men who called, e-mailed and wrote to the White House to express their support for family planning decisions staying in the hands of women. In so doing, he remained true to the original vision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and refused to bend the knee to intense lobbying from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Catholic healthcare industry and other special interests who wanted him to expand a refusal clause that would have denied millions of women access to affordable family planning.”
In the statement, Catholics for Choice President Jon O’Brien states, “The bishops pulled out all the stops in their campaign against women’s access to contraception. The Obama administration stood with those who support religious liberty and believe in giving women the freedom of conscience to make their own reproductive health decisions.” The CFC statement of Jan. 20th adds, “In the final analysis, this was a victory for common sense and scientific advice in the interests of the common good … The battle over this issue is a warning about what is to come, especially as the bishops are playing the victim card in their pleas for special treatment and their false assertions about alleged attacks on religious freedom.” In fact, Catholics for Choice called the exemption, or refusal clause that is such a point of contention for the bishops “still too expansive, denying many women … affordable access to contraception.” In a follow-up interview by phone, O’Brien told us, “I certainly respect the opinions and views of conservative Catholics – they should be respected. The problem is when they want to put their opinions in as public policy. “Being American or being Catholic, we should believe in being allowed to follow our conscience. If someone doesn’t want to take birth control, they shouldn’t be forced to; and if they do, they should be allowed to. “As for your local politician, I’m
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