Aborting the Mandate

Everyone knows the definition of"abort;" it is to terminate a process prematurely. Then there's the term "abortion;" the termination of a pregnancy after, accompanied by, resulting in, or closely followed by the death of the embryo or fetus. It's useful to be clear on those terms, especially since the media talking heads and the folks in the Obama Administration seem to be completely lost about their meaning. Liberal pro-abortion folks always carefully omit "death of the fetus (latin, unborn baby)" from discussions about abortion. These liberals always presume that a woman will be healthier and happier after hiring her baby killed, so abortion is cheerfully rolled into the term "women's health care."

In the recent mandate for "women's health care," the HHS proposed, and then finalized, a rule requiring essentially all employers to pay for sterilization, abortifactients, and contraceptives for women as part of Obamacare's insurance requirements. There is a purported exemption for religious organizations, but it exempts only organizations which perform solely religious functions. As defined by HHS, of course, not by the organization. The exemption is so narrow that Jesus Himself could not qualify for the exemption.

Initially, there was a hue and cry about the mandate, so the Administration offered a compromise of sorts: an additional, even more egregious mandate which would require the insurance providers to give these services to religious organizations for free. As if the cost of the services was the issue. And as if the President has any authority to order any business to provide anything to anyone at all, let alone for free.

This mandate flies directly in the face of the teachings of Bible-based churches. The Catholics, in particular, are hard-hit by this rule, since they fund many hospitals and charities. If this mandate is not aborted, these institutions will be forced to choose between conscience and compliance.

The Administration has presented this as a women's rights issue, of course, with the media chorus line singing backup, while the Church has correctly pointed out that it is a Constitutional issue. In countries where "rights" are privileges temporarily granted by government fiat, "religious freedom" and "women's rights" may be "balanced" by unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats secreted in a conference room. In a country founded by a grant from the people (the Constitution), subject to the people's inalienable rights, "religious freedom" is guaranteed.

The Democrats talk about polls which, they claim, show that many people support the use of contraceptives. They don't talk about polls which show that fewer people, and probably a minority, support abortion. Polls provide nice talking points to mislead the unthinking, but they are not relevant.

The entire point of Constitutionally-guaranteed rights is that the majority cannot vote them away. The best way the government can show it still respects the Constitution is by aborting the mandate. Or perhaps that is the point: it may be the Obama Administration no longer is comfortable with the "restrictions" on its "authority" that silly old Constitution saddles the it with.