The Washington Times reported Thursday that Colorado Christian College is suing the Obama administration.
If you’re thinking to yourself, “Self, if someone’s suing the Obama administration it’s probably because of health care,” well, you’re right. Last year, Kathleen Sebelius, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, issued a mandate as part of the health care reform bill requiring businesses to pay for Plan B and ella, two “emergency” contraceptives.
Insurers will be required to provide these medications — which can be used to cause abortions — without a co-pay. In layman’s terms, they would be free.
But you and I know nothing is free. Who pays for that abortion pill? The taxpayer. In other words: you.
Although medical literature states these drugs will not terminate an “established” pregnancy, they don’t tell you exactly what “established” means. The drug information for both Plan B and ella states that they can stop or delay ovulation, or they can keep a fertilized egg from attaching to the uterine wall.
When used effectively as an emergency contraceptive, it is obviously too late for the drug to keep a woman from ovulating. The woman takes the drug in that case to keep a fertilized egg — which is to say, a zygote; which is to say, a living human being — from implanting in the uterus. This is, quite simply, a very early abortion.
Colorado Christian College is suing on the grounds that this mandate violates freedom of speech and religion. There are still a few exceptions being made for religious objections, but the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and other organizations — such as Colorado Christian College — are saying the exemptions are not broad enough.
This week the USCCB ran a full-page ad in the New York Times and the Washington Post condemning the mandate. “As written, the rule will force Catholic organizations that play a vital role in providing health care and other needed services either to violate their conscience or severely curtail those services,” the ad said. “This would harm both religious freedom and access to health care.”
Discussing this with someone, I heard an argument I often hear: “Well, you don’t get to choose where your tax money goes.”
I have two answers to that argument. First: well, we do get to choose. By voting. Except we the people did not get to vote on abortion. The Supreme Court discovered a right to abortion in the Constitution one day. “Oh, hey, look! There it is!”
Second: so we don’t all get to order where our taxes go, a la carte. It would be pretty cool if you could fill in a little form and say, ”I want my money to only go to schools and roads, not to pay grants to ‘artists’ who submerge sharks in formaldehyde and call it ‘Untitled No. 3: Man’s Existential Dilemma’ so they can get invited to parties in SoHo.” It doesn’t work that way. We pay taxes and the government spends our money however they want.
But wait a second! We’re supposed to be in charge of the government and how it spends our money. In theory, they work for us.
So where do we draw the line? Here’s a hypothetical: we all wake up tomorrow and the President or the Speaker of the House comes on TV and says, “Good morning, my fellow Americans. We’ve decided that 80% of all tax revenues will be spent building a giant machine that will find and murder all the world’s puppies.” Couldn’t we object to — and stop — our tax dollars being spent on a puppy-killing machine?
Or let’s say a government representative came on TV and said, “From now on, some of your money is going to be spent to pay for other people’s abortions, and if you refuse, you’ll be fined.” That is exactly what’s happening.
All pro-lifers should be educated about these so-called “abortion pills.” Our whole argument — our entire cause — is based on the simple, scientific fact that a unique, priceless human life begins at the moment of conception. If this is true — and it is — Plan B or ella, when used effectively as an emergency contraceptive, is every bit as responsible for the death of a living person as an abortionist.
Can we, as members of a free society, require people to participate — financially or otherwise — in an act they believe is wrong? This issue is different from one of, say, national defense, where Congress has the Constitutional authority to act as they see fit on behalf of the nation. This is the case of a private individual committing what I believe to be murder, and expecting me to foot the bill.
What do you think? Does Colorado Christian College have a case? Do you have a problem paying for other people’s abortions, whether caused by a pill or surgically?
LifeNews.com Note: Kristen Walker is Vice President of New Wave Feminists.This post originally appeared at the Live Action blog and is reprinted with permission.
