Catholics are “the last minority group in America that it is OK to make fun of”? Please. Tell me the last time you’ve heard someone say “That’s so Catholic” instead of “That’s so gay.” When have you heard of kids being beaten up for being Catholic? Plenty of kids are beaten up, not to say mercilessly made fun of, every day for being gay. The victim game does not work here; sorry.
Then she moves from “the church is merely saying that it will not facilitate this choice by paying for it” (which it clearly does not have to) to the accusation that the new contraception legislation “is infringing on our First Amendment right to freedom of religion.” Which is also clearly untrue. No Catholics are being forced to use birth control if they choose not to for religious reasons.
Right-wing politicians, financed by right-wing religious organizations, are flogging this “religious freedom” accusation that Rosemary McDonough is repeating. Unfortunately it doesn’t make sense and is not supported by the Supreme Court. Can I be exempted from paying taxes because I object that most of that money goes to war-making, which I oppose (and in this case, I am in fact paying for something I am religiously opposed to)? No, I am obliged to obey the law of the land. The right to contraception is the law of the land, approved by no less a Catholic than Justice Scalia in Oregon v. Smith, 1990.
Rosemary McDonough, and politicians and religious leaders whom she mirrors, are wrong to claim that their religious freedom is being infringed upon by having to accept that contraception is covered by their insurance plans. They are no less free to exercise their religious choices today than they were before this latest legislation was passed.
Sincerely,
JANE SWIFT DUGDALE
Bryn Mawr
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