Thursday, February 9, 2012

Armstrong On Birth Control Mandates

In The Objective Standard blog, Ari Armstrong discusses why "Not Only Catholics Should be Angered by Birth Control Mandates".

I especially liked this segment:
True, the government should not force Catholics to fund birth control against their religious beliefs. But the government should not force anyone to fund any type of insurance coverage against their wishes. The government should not force people to buy insurance that covers birth control, acupuncture, maternity leave, or any other good or service. Such mandates violate the rights of insurance companies and their clients to freely negotiate terms, and they drive up the costs of premiums.

Insurance mandates not only violate Catholics' freedom of religion; they violate everyone's freedom of conscience and everyone's freedom to use their own resources as they judge best. To be genuinely "pro-choice," one must respect people's choices across the board—including their choice of religion or philosophy, their choice of whether to buy insurance and if so what kind, and their choice of how to dispose of the fruits of their labor.
(Read the full text of "Not Only Catholics Should be Angered by Birth Control Mandates".)

Update: Ari Armstrong pointed me to how the Obama Administration may try to use waivers to make this political hot potato go away, "Obama May Waive Away Contraception Uproar".