Amy Goodman: America’s Pro-Choice Majority Speaks Out

[babylonsister]

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/americas_pro-choice_majority_speaks_out_20120208/?ln

America’s Pro-Choice Majority Speaks Out
By Amy Goodman

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Catholic activists who acknowledge the broad use of contraception among their church members, despite its official prohibition, suggest women can “go elsewhere” to get the preventive care. And if they can’t afford to? Loretta Ross, national coordinator of the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective in Atlanta, told me: “This rule really allows low-income women, women who are dependent on their health care, to access birth control—women of color, in particular ... if you don’t want to use birth control, don’t buy it, don’t use it. But don’t block others who do want to use it, who cannot afford it, from accessing it.”

One possible solution to the debate came from a surprising quarter. Michael Brendan Dougherty, a Catholic commentator, was in church a couple of weeks ago when he heard the priest read out a letter from Archbishop Dolan encouraging Catholics to oppose the president. Dougherty, who supports the church’s opposition to the regulation, suggested to me that a single-payer health-care option could solve the problem: “It would solve this particular problem of conscience, as it has in Europe. The bishops don’t like that the government subsidizes abortion or contraception, but they are not in full mode of fury, because they are not being asked to formally cooperate with things they view as sinful.”

Loretta Ross agrees with the single-payer solution, but says the current contraception controversy masks a “war on women with all this rhetoric about religious freedom and care for not only the pre-born, but now, with the attack on contraception, you’re attacking the preconceived. ... We’re not going to take it lying down. And as the fight with the Komen Foundation proved, we are a force to be reckoned with. And we’re actually going to work to strengthen President Obama’s stand in supporting contraceptive access.”

[tanyev]

1. So many good reasons to have health insurance that is in no way tied to your employer.