Catholic Bishops: Women’s Access to Birth Control Unconstitutional

It really is becoming clear to me just how much women are hated and despised in this world, namely in this country. From right-wing politicos to religious whack-jobs to the latest from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, each and every one of them has a plan to subjugate and enslave women, turning the clock back on the last 40-50 years of progress. They demand freedom and liberty for their political views, for their religious rights, for their right to privacy, and for just about everything else from soup to nuts, but if you have a uterus, you are afforded no such thing, nor do you deserve it.

Your uterus, your vagina is their property and they’re going to control it and you if it kills them.

In a 35-page comment to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the USCCB got on their pontificating high-horse about the Department’s recent ruling that made contraception free to women. I’m not quite sure what their problem is; the ruling did exempt religious organizations and their insurance providers from having to comply, so what they’re getting their panties in a wad over is anyone’s guess, except to say that they want to force their own religious views on the masses whether they like it or not.

In the comment, they disguise their contempt for women’s healthcare through the old ruse of feigning concern for our well-being, while condescendingly implying that we have no idea how to take care of ourselves or our bodies:

First, we comment on the mandate that all health plans cover prescription contraceptives, sterilization, and related patient education and counseling (“HHS mandate” or “the mandate”). This mandate, we submit, should be rescinded in its entirety. These are not “health” services, and they do not “prevent” illness or disease. Instead, they disrupt the healthy functioning of the reproductive system, introducing health risks in the process; and they are designed to prevent pregnancy, which is not a disease.

Next, they claim the mandate, which, again, exempts a group like the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops from having to comply, is unconstitutional:

The HHS mandate is also unprecedented in federal law and more radical than any state contraceptive mandate enacted to date. Insofar as it requires coverage of drugs that can operate to cause an abortion, the mandate violates the Weldon amendment, certain provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“PPACA” or “the Act”) dealing with abortion and non-preemption, and the Administration’s own public assurances, both pre- and post-enactment, that the Act does not require coverage of abortion.

Finally, as applied to individuals and organizations with a religious objection to contraceptives, sterilization, and related counseling and education, the HHS mandate violates various protections under the Religion Clauses and Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment, as well as the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (“RFRA”) and the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”).

From there, they take it upon themselves to assume the role of an “expert panel” on women’s health, citing contraception as “not preventative” because “pregnancy is not a disease,” and the purported claim that cases of HIV infection will increase, which is just a back-handed way of saying that women are sluts and need to be kept under constant control.

It always amazes me when men, especially a group of cloistered, sexually repressed men, try to preach to me about my body, about my rights, and about what they think is acceptable behavior for women.

As far as I‘m concerned, they can take their “comments” and shove them straight up their priestly asses.