Pulling a Komen!

Really, four Catholic bishops in Massachusetts are urging its parishioners to fight Obama's rule that requires church-affiliated employers to cover birth control, including the morning-after pill.  It's still a shock for most non-Catholics when they learn that the Catholic church opposes the use of contraception, other than the rhythm method.  Rhythm if you don't know is abstinence during a woman's fertile days and not at all reliable  Works some times, some times not.  The real story:

Reuters, April 13, 2011

A new report from the Guttmacher Institute, the nonprofit sexual health research organization, shows that only 2 percent of Catholic women, even those who regularly attend church, rely on natural family planning. The latest data shows practices of Catholic women are in line with women of other religious affiliations and adult American women in general.
"In real-life America, contraceptive use and strong religious beliefs are highly compatible," said the report's lead author Rachel Jones. 

She said most sexually active women who do not want to become pregnant practice contraception, and most use highly effective methods like sterilization, the pill, or the intrauterine device (IUD). "This is true for Evangelicals and Mainline Protestants, and it is true for Catholics, despite the Catholic hierarchy's strenuous opposition to contraception," Jones said. Nearly 70 percent of Catholic women use sterilization, the birth control pill or an IUD, according to the Guttmacher Institute research.

The numbers are slightly higher among women who identify as Evangelicals or Mainline Protestants, research showed. The latest data is from the 2006-2008 National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG). The findings nearly match previous NSFG data from 2002, which showed that 97 percent of Catholic women were using birth control, and are consistent with a trend tracked over the last decade by Catholics for Choice.      

At least in America, and certainly in the most Catholic countries in Europe, Italy, Ireland, and Spain, Catholic women regularly use contraceptives.  In Ireland the morning after pill is available over-the-counter to those sixteen years and up, and at one-fifth our cost. The clergy knows this only too well so what is its purpose in condemning Obama and by implication, the Affordable Care Act?

If the Church really expects its members to follow its rules, challenging the Affordable Health Care bill is hardly the way to do it.  It could excommunicate all those Catholics who don't practice natural methods of birth control (at least fifty percent of its congregation on any given Sunday) and welcome them back after menopause.  Seems obvious to me that the Catholic Church is pulling a Komen, inserting politics into health care, and siding with Republicans.  Now we know why Newt Gingrich feels so comfortable in the Catholic Church.

What worries me is that some Catholics, even those who use birth control (who doesn't?), will listen to the Church and vote Republican in November. It's rather daunting to consider the huge numbers of people who follow the Republican Golden Rule--"Do as I say not as I do!"