Comments

1
I could be wrong, but I fail to see what's different about this rule than the one that was announced a year ago. At that time, it was said that employers wouldn't have to offer contraception coverage, but the insurance companies would. Is this simply being misreported as a new thing?
2
Religious organizations get to pass off their financial obligations simply because they're religious. That's what is wrong.
3
Whatever lens through which the angry folks are viewing this news needs to be severely cleaned or maybe even thrown away. I read the news from Planned Parenthood and NARAL this morning via an email. Then I logged onto SLOG and saw "WHITE HOUSE CAVES." Completely myopic ridiculousness.

If Obama were to hand out birth control personally for free until the end of his life, they would still find something to gripe about. I swear, some people will never be happy about any progress.
4
You have to be angry because Vagina.
5
@1 I was thinking the same thing. Did that compromise never take root for some reason?
6
Why should religious organizations not have to pay for their employees health insurance? Churches are getting yet another undeserved subsidy from the public, that is worth getting pissed off about.
7
Let's take a moment to reflect back on Dan Savage's post on gay men having lower stress levels than straights...
8
This post would read as a much more legitimate argument if the title didn't make you sound like a butthurt "men's rights advocate."
9
when do we all get to dismantle the churches and their offshoot business fronts for being perverty weirdos. thats the question i wanna get to. fu goldy. and fu2 whoever. obama has no business pandering to the catholic church until they clean up their own house for once in forever. fuck those fucking weirdos.
10
Goldy for the Misogynist win!

Who needs rights when old white men get to make the rules ...
11
"By setting up separate insurance plans for birth control coverage, the federal government is officially endorsing the idea that reproductive health care is separate from, you know, health care. Which it isn't. Such a concession to the religious organizations further stigmatizes women and their oh-so-mysterious body parts and accepts the inaccurate premise that there's any validity to objections to basic health care on the grounds that Jesus wouldn't like it." http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/02/01…
12
@6,

Are you under the impression that they're getting a price break as a result?
14
You're right to do a post about what commenters to the the earlier post pointed out.
15
@9 Yeah, because THAT has a possibility of happening. Get real.
16
Sounds like a reasonable compromise to me. Did you ever hear the one about how "you can't please all the people all of the time"?
17
It sounds like there was a compromise made in order to get things done and move forward.

Obviously people are being dramatic and extreme because they arn't getting everything they want. It's an emotional reaction because people had unreal expectations and disappointment hurts.

MTFO. You know who doesn't move the fuck on? Conservatives, and how does that work out for them? What's our next battle? Progress moves forward, it doesn't whine about yesterday, beezies.
18
oh, and how dare you speak about a women's rights you CUNTSUCKER!
19
We have seen the civil rights movement insist on re-writing many of the textbooks in our universities and schools. The labor unions likewise insist that textbooks be fair to the viewpoints of organized labor. Other interested citizens groups have not hesitated to review, analyze and criticize textbooks and teaching materials. In a democratic society, this can be a constructive process and should be regarded as an aid to genuine academic freedom and not as an intrusion upon it.

If the authors, publishers and users of textbooks know that they will be subjected -- honestly, fairly and thoroughly -- to review and critique by eminent scholars who believe in the American (free enterprise) system, a return to a more rational balance can be expected.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb…

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/e…
20
@11 from the article you linked to:


That means all those lawsuits currently making their way through the court system, and potentially heading to the Supreme Court, aren't going anywhere. It means all those hysterical threats from, for example, the Catholic bishops aren't going to stop. Calls for civil disobedience, for hunger strikes, even for armed insurrection—those aren't going to end.

The author is correct that the lawsuits won't stop. But they also won't have a leg to stand on under these rules either. Many people are against birth control in this country. That is a reality. But the other reality is that their mere disapproval won't affect women's ability to access contraceptive care simply because they disagree with what someone else is doing. A big victory in my book.
21
@german sausage SHUTTHEHELLUP these two issues are not directly related and to blindly bandy about that phrase discredits all of the hard work that public centers have done to help all people. I'm seriously sick of angry idiots using twitter/tumblr logic to come up with half-formed phrases that just lead to catchall arguments. get yourself educated about stuff and enter the real world
22
I realize the comments section is rarely the place to go for rational discussion but you have successfully framed your argument (via a trollish headline) in such a way that I cannot resist responding.

1) Your argument is not invalidated by your penis. Perhaps a few of the women you work with have given you a reason to believe this to be true but what I understand most feminists want from men are empathetic allies. We need the voices of both men and women to be present in this discussion. In far too many instances, it is the voices of women that are absent http://www.thenation.com/blog/166311/rep…
Or silenced. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/20…
What we need is a healthy, open dialogue. If you don’t understand why women are upset- you might want to ask. Hopefully you’ll listen and come to better understand our anger.
2) We can celebrate the results of this victory while still being deeply frustrated by the means through which the end is achieved. Affordable access to reproductive health options is essential for the social and economic wellbeing of women and indeed all people. However, as @11 mentions, this compromise perpetuates ideas about women and their bodies that are part of a greater narrative that harm women. We need strong leadership to stand up to the religious right and deny them the discriminatory privileges they’ve been granted for far too long.
23
Sounds like @21 just got dumped by a vagina
24
@21: Uh, actually, they're more connected than you allow yourself to believe.
25
Your opinion is informed by your sex and the privilege that comes with it. Does ANY PART of your male specific healthcare get discussed and threatened regularly in the news, have policies made about it, or get publicly denied on a regular basis? Do you listen to prominent public figures that don't even HAVE penises OR MD PHDS discuss what you can and can't do to take care of your penis regardless of what your doctor and you decide?

The entire conversation is so wholly inappropriate. You should be offended WITH me, not against me. Why are we even still talking about this? There are drones killing babies, our president has a foreign policy that the far right L O V E S....why aren't we telling them to give everyone healthcare, fund it, let drs and patients make their medical decisions privately and move the fuck on so we can give some deserved time to something besides whether or not some religious BUSINESSS can or can't opt out of the cost of basic healthcare specifically for my lady business because the answer should be NO, separate your business from your religion, consider my lady business officially moved to "ALSO MY OWN PRIVATE GENERAL HEALTHCARE" not some sub-genre, or lose your tax breaks.

The answer should be: YOU ARE GOING TO PAY FOR ALL OF YOUR EMPLOYEES HEALTHCARE REGARDLESS OF AGE, GENDER, RACE, ORIENTATION BECAUSE I SAID SO. SO STFU and GTFO so the adults can start talking about something that isn't as obvious.

26
I also just want to point out that because I have a vagina a HUGE part of my healthcare is ALWAYS seemingly on the chopping block, a huge part of my healthcare that, BY THE WAY, my grandma and my mom fought and voted REALLY HARD to even get for me at all. So while I'm glad for the minor victory of at least making sure everyone gets BC if they want it, I am not giving any props to supporting the idea that the care of my vagina is SEPARATE from the rest of my physical care, or that religious people should have the right to deny ANYONE full care of their WHOLE body just because they believe in some imaginary super being.
27
Somehow I just knew this would set off a firestorm of bitching and kvetching. OMG AMERICAN SOCIETY IS HARD TO CHANGE AND SOMEONE HAD TO COMPROMISE! Everyone scream and yell. It would have been much better to just jettison birth control for women altogether, right? Or maybe we could have alienated half of America by de-funding churches. "Free contraceptives? FUCK GOLDY AND OBAMA!" What?
28
Quite simply: because this is institutionalized sexism and purposeful exceptions for religious institutions who don't pay taxes in the first fucking place.

If that doesn't offend you, you may not be a liberal, but just a Democrat. Ouch.
29
BREAKING NEWS...
Conservatives are selfish, cruel fuckers who only care about themselves and their money. Religions exist soley to incite fear and hatred.

Obama did the only thing he could. Those fuckers can't be bargained with. They can't be reasoned with.
30
Jessica Valenti answers your question: http://www.thenation.com/blog/172524/why…
31
#28: Well maybe next time your concerns can be ignored completely or we'll let the expansion of the health care system to collapse because you'r angry. Because, political reality and context reality don't actually mean anything, and Obama is a dictator who can just decree laws.
32
1st amendment preserved? - good
Vaginas covered - good?

Vaginas need to be uncovered for further scrutiny and a master debate team should get on this issue immediately.
33
Churches should pay taxes and be treated like a regular organization. The whole protection of religion from laws. However the Constitution gave more rights based on geography verses population size. Wyoming has the same amount of Senators as does New York.

All those red states do not swing the Presidential election but they do determine the Legislative direction of the country.

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