In his letter attacking another writer, Edward F. Murphy fails to recognize that employers do not have to offer any insurance. My son works for a small business and receives no health care benefits at all. He would be happy to to have coverage that excludes blood transfusions or even to have insurance that covered nothing but broken bones.
He is also aware that if and when health care becomes a priority to him, he is free to look for another job with a company that offers such.
At the present time, some insurance plans don’t cover organ transplants or mental health services, are these medical needs not as important as contraception? Why not have government require drug stores and convenience stores provide condoms for free? Female contraceptives don’t protect against sexually transmitted diseases. Why shouldn’t men be given a handout, too?
His letter also states what has become a common misinterpretation of the First Amendment; that freedom of religion also means freedom from religion. The actual verbiage is, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” So, while Mr. Murphy and so many others are correct in stating that our government does not have the right to require any citizen of this country to worship any form of religion, it does not imply that our government is responsible for shielding him from the fact, sights and sounds that religion exists. This country was established to escape religious persecution and to be able to openly practice the religion of your choosing. Meaning, please stop asking me to remove symbols of my religion, because I have the right to display them. Please don’t ask me to say “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas”, because I have the right to say it. And please don’t ask a Catholic church to pay for, supply or encourage the use of that which it feels goes against it’s very teachings. Why does the separation of church and state mean that my child cannot pray in school, yet we not only allow Muslims in federal detention centers to pray, we provide prayer rugs and Korans? I’m tired of the double standard and I think that those that have faith in this country are the majority and we need to stand up and let our voices be heard before it is too late.
Michelle Dillard
Mesa
Chet posted at 4:09 pm on Mon, Apr 16, 2012.
No one forces anyone to take birth control, at least not since we ended eugenics programs over 30 years ago.
But you're okay with one person making a health decision for all of their employees? For one employee, or one hundred, or one thousand?
I don't know of any employers who pay 100% of an employees health care benefits. There may be some, but I've always had to pay half. Can the employee's half go to contraceptives?
How about the hundreds of thousands of American's employed by foreign companies but work here? Can someone from a Chinese, Israeli, or Indian company make religious decisions for their employees? Are you okay with opening that door? Because you're encouraging it.
My mother's, daughter's, and wife's employers have no business making health care decisions for them.