Feminists have been warning for years that contraception was next on the conservative hit list; that the war on abortion would metastasize into a war on birth control.
On Friday President Obama handed conservatives the first victory in that war, marking off contraception as a special thing that could be legitimately denied on the basis of religious liberty. You would think that the people who have been warning against this for years would be alive to the danger. And some of us are. But a lot of folks aren’t getting it.
So let me try again to explain, using examples.
Example 1: Let’s say a Jehovah’s Witness-affiliated company tells the Administration that they don’t want to cover blood transfusions in their healthcare plan because it’s against their religious beliefs. Do you think Obama would hold a press conference and announce that, henceforth, employers won’t have to pay for blood transfusions if it violates their conscience? Would he invoke the precious right to religious liberty? Would he announce that insurance companies would pick up the slack and pay for blood transfusions themselves?