No, I Don't Want to Pay for Your Contraceptives!

It seems that you can hardly navigate the internet these days without running across a hate filled diatribe against the “evil old men” who are trying to “take my contraception from me!!!!”  It’s usually accompanied by something about how women have fought long and hard for these “rights” and how the “Roman Catholic Church needs to stay out of my bedroom.” 

The standard, unoriginal arguments show the complete lack of understanding for the actual issue that is being argued at the moment, but in the past few days I’ve seen it taken even further, with hatred being spewed at “friends” on facebook that is downright evil.  I’ve seen someone say to a friend that people who believe that contraception is wrong should be “wiped off the face of the earth” and I’ve seen incredibly disgusting rants filled with profanity and obscene references to bodily parts that would make a demon proud. 

But the previous sentence telling in itself isn’t it?  My reference to demons?  Because I very much do believe in good and evil in this world, which, according to a panel I saw on CNN last week, is quite laughable and should apparently disqualify any person for public office.  Or at the very least result in three smug men laughing hysterically that anyone could still have such antiquated notions, on national TV. 

I’ve seen calmly written paragraphs explaining why Catholics simply don’t want to pay for something they believe is morally evil and I’ve seen vitriolic rage spouted in response, spouting the same old “lies” that basically say we’re just “repressing” a “woman’s right” to “express her sexuality.” 

Last night I saw a rant by a group of women claiming to be “pro-life” who just didn’t get why these “Catholics don’t want to pay for the pill” because the lies that the pharmaceutical companies have been selling these past years have apparently been so convincing that women don’t even scan the info that comes with their little beloved packets of pills that would tell them that most pills prevent implantation, in reality preventing a newly formed life from taking hold, and causing an abortion. 

And my heart aches as I watch the progression of lies that has unfolded this past century, and because of all the lives it has claimed and all the lives that will yet be destroyed by this great evil. 

In our culture sex has been transformed in the last century, from something private and sacred, something that should be guarded and valued, to a commodity and a “right,” something that can be bargained for “power” and immediate gratification.  We believe that we can separate the act from its natural consequence, without repercussions, and when nature proves that it can’t be thwarted, we think that murder is a nice solution. 

Is it any surprise now, that when someone says they don’t want to pay for someone else to have sex, the reaction is that they should be “wiped off the face of the earth”?  Because sex has become our golden calf, the idol that so many have placed above all else, and somehow certain people have begun believe it should be a RIGHT, on par with food, water and shelter.  Our culture tells us we should live for it.  And they tell us that we can kill for it.

 I’ve also heard it the cliché “the Church should stay out of our bedrooms!” more often than I care to think of this week, spouted by “Catholics” who have likely never understood what their Church actually teaches.  And they just don’t understand that the Church isn’t “in their bedroom” but is responsible for guiding us to heaven, and trying to keep our immortal souls from committing a mortal sin, and completely severing the soul from God.

I also think it’s interesting that we can “stay out of their bedrooms” while simultaneously demanding is that we pay for their sexual preferences and contraceptives.  

The thing is, as wrong as we believe contraception is, we aren’t arguing that it should be eliminated.  We’re arguing that we shouldn’t have to violate our consciences by paying for it. 

Even on a secular level I’m disgusted with the idea of paying for The Pill.  I don’t want to pay for someone else’s cigarettes either.  I refuse to pay to destroy life, whether it’s born or unborn.  I have a problem paying for something that the International Agency for Research for Cancer, a research arm of the World Health Organization, classified as a Group 1 Carcinogen, putting it in the same class as cigarettes and asbestos.  I have a problem paying for something that causes a woman who has taken it for 5 years four times more likely to develop cervical cancer.  I’m disgusted by the idea that I’d pay for something that causes young women who’ve taken it for 4 years prior to their first birth to have an increased breast cancer risk of 52%.  And while the American Medical Association warns women that post-menopausal hormones are likely causing advanced and deadly breast cancer, they stop short of pointing out that the same hormones, at six times the dosage are given to women regularly as contraception (read the entire article, with all the sources, here). 

I’m against paying for contraceptives because I’m for women.  I’m for respecting our bodies and our souls.  I’m for not turning into a commodity that which is sacred.  I’m for not commercializing sexuality and telling our daughters that they need to be “sexy” to be beautiful.  And if someone wants to abuse their body in this way, and take enormous risks with their health, both physical and spiritual, then in our nation that is their right.  But I think they should know about the risks they’re taking.  And they certainly shouldn’t expect the rest of us to pay for it.