“…a power grab as Government is reaching into yet another part of our private lives to force us to fulfill the selfishness of Progressive politicians such as yourself, putting your ideology ahead of our freedoms”.
From her own official US Senator website and the transcript of her Senate floor address from Feb 7. Read through it – how often do you read the words “freedom” or “liberty”? Does she quote one of the Founders? Does she reference the Constitution? Does she talk about Government overreach? Does she talk about freedom of choice for all people, regardless of any special identity group?
What is her highest value?
…I also commend the President for standing up for women’s health and reaffirming the recommendation of the Institute of Medicine to protect access to affordable birth control for all women. The decision to require health plans’ coverage of contraception with no copays or deductibles will change the lives of millions of women and their families for the better.
Ah yes, the Institute of Medicine – this batch of unelected bureaucrats have decided, in all of their fantabulous wisdom, that their pronouncement of a “want” (or even a “maybe should have”). Look, in terms of actual medical advice, they certainly should give it. But the United States is neither a hospital or an academic Ivory Tower. Instead, this is a political matter, a cultural matter, and one that should be rightly measured against the timeless principles of the Constitution.
What Jeanne has shown us, however, the game plan is plain from a Progressive’s standpoint: consult “the experts”, do not question them, and immediately put their expert recommendations into policy. After all, they know better what we need than we do.
My questions is, how long do the Progressives think that they can play King Canute and believe they can tell the Laws of Economics to suspend themselves (“with no copays or deductibles”).
Birth control can cost up to $600 a year; it can be a serious economic concern for women. Studies have shown that it costs employers as much as 17 percent more to exclude contraceptive coverage in employee health plans than to provide such coverage.
Hey Senator – tell me why it is fair and honest to educate one special interest group that the rest of us “owe” them? Have you lost sight of what Insurance is? To recap, insurance is a fiscal plan that should indemnify one from an high unanticipated costs, like a car crash. Insurance does not pay for the weekly gas or even the occasional four tire purchase – at $600 / year, we are talking $50 / month. Hey, ever think of going to Walmart – prices are cheaper there!
Birth control is also a fundamental health care issue. Doctors and public health experts agree that increased access to birth control prevents unintended pregnancies. It is directly linked to declines in maternal and infant mortality and a reduction in the risk of ovarian cancer. It is linked to overall good health outcomes.
So, is getting pregnant a disease? Is this something to be prevented? And Jeanne, even the best contraceptives and best discipline in using such, fail. It seems to me that you are just shucking and jiving on the Progressive Feminist bandwagon – that “womens health” is now the keystone of our healthcare. How’s it feel, ma’am, to be totally ignoring almost 50% of your constituents? It also, very much, seems like you are spinning / rationalizing.
It also is a fact, by your actions and words, that you have no problem in inserting Big Government into the most intimate moments of your citizens lives in the bedroom – and inserting it into the rest of our lives to make us pay for their fun. I really do resent that – I have a real problem with both, because it says that half the folks are incompetent to be responsible for their actions and the rest of us are so stupid that we willingly will go along with your silky smooth words.
Permanent and temporary contraception is critical for family planning purposes, but many women—a full 14 percent — use birth control for medical and health reasons, including helping to reduce the risk of some cancers, treatment for endometriosis, serious infections and cysts.
You know, I get and understand this, but again, you are trying to use one false Right, a manufactured Right, to run roughshod over an actual right.
A question, Senator Shaheen: where do our Rights come from: you, Government, or God?
Mr. President, let’s be clear. In talking about the health benefits of birth control, I am not telling women that they must use it. The decision on whether or not to pursue contraception is an individual choice that each woman must make for herself, without promotion or dissuasion. No part of the Affordable Care Act, or the President’s ruling regarding insurance coverage, forces any woman to use contraception.
And that is not the problem – nice try in trying to set up the sleight of rhetorical hand, Senator. No, Obamacare and you both say that women do not have to use birth control, but you are telling the rest of us that we have to pay for it. You ARE telling the rest of us that we all have to purchase a product, insurance (which again Progressives are redefining the language – what you ARE calling insurance is nothing more than a purchasing pool – two completely different ideas. But you know the second that you do call it for what it really is, the jig is up and the truth comes out.
Your real goal is assisting Obama in fundamentally transforming the US into being a Post-Constitutional nation in that if you can force this, what is it that cannot be done? If this is allowed to stand, is there anything that the Feds cannot tell us to do? It seems that the question asked of Elena Kagan at her confirmation hearings (“Can the Federal Government tell us to eat more veggies?”) is, from your own words and action, a resounding “Yes, it can!”.
However, birth control is now affordable and accessible for any woman who, in consultation with her doctor, decides that she wants it. The policy represents one of the greatest advances for women’s health in decades.
At $50 / month (or cheaper, if you just buy a couple of boxes of condoms) it is affordable, so why put the cost on the rest of us? You might believe that this is a great advance for womens’ health – but this is one of the hugest regressions of personal Liberty I have ever seen and unless the Supremes kill this Leviathan, the death of “limited” govt. [update: see end of post -Skip]
Sadly, there is an aggressive and misleading campaign to deny this benefit to women.
As a Feminist Liberal, I wouldn’t expect you to “get it” and it is NOT a misleading campaign. Yes, it is aggressive and will become even more so, for many of us who actually stand on the principles laid down by the Founders of Liberty and Freedom. Every time that you wish to more fully implement the philosophy of “Government that gives you more stuff”, you necessarily have to take it from others. You, Jeanne Shaheen (and others of your persuasion) have failed at actually being persuasive in convincing people that your ideas are right and that they should voluntarily reach into their own wallets and give to your idea. After all, we ARE the most giving people in this history of the world, right? Instead, you are following in the words of the former head of the SEIU, Andy Stern, who said “”If we can’t use the power of persuasion, we will use the persuasion of power.” and indeed, that is what you are using: the raw naked power of Government in a power grab.
And that is why you don’t “get it”, because that is what the rest of us see – a power grab as Government is reaching into yet another part of our private lives to force us to fulfill the selfishness of Progressive politicians such as yourself, putting your ideology ahead of our freedoms.
A conscience clause exists that exempts religious institutions, like the churches, from having to carry insurance that covers contraception. Many have argued that that conscience clause should be expanded to include religiously affiliated hospitals and universities in the name of religious liberty.
The millions of women who work in a Catholic hospital or university— from the overnight nurse to the classroom aid or cafeteria worker– who choose to use birth control should have the same access as their counterpart at another institution. That is their decision. Not their employers.
A time honored technique: the truth mixed in with non-truth in the set up of a straw man argument (what, you buy into Obama’s straw farm, Senator?). No one is forcing any woman to buy or use birth control. No one. Not even you.
But you ARE forcing others to reach into their own pockets to enable them – thus, you are proving all of the fears of those that said that Obamacare would fundamentally change how Americans have to live their lives and the control that Government would establish over them.
Instead of being citizens that have a Government to do the things that are difficult to do individually or in small groups, we now have a new set of OverLords like Jeanne Shaheen that are, de facto and de jure, turning that Government into one that does no longer derives its powers from the consenting but stands that idea on its head by creating mere subjects out of them over which to rule.
There are religions that believe that divorce is a sin. Should these institutions be exempt from our labor laws and be allowed to discriminate based on marital status? Of course not. This is no different.
Then why bother to put that silliness up other than as a stupid talking point that adds an “oh yeah” moment?
A recent survey showed that 71 percent of American voters, including 77 percent of Catholic women voters, support the requirement to make birth control available to all. They understand that religious freedom means that all women- Catholic or non-Catholic- should have the opportunity to make their own decision when it comes to birth control.
You LIE! This is NOT the definition of “religious freedom” – once again, you try to raise a Feminist ideal, that women should not have to face the consequence of their actions under any situation and that all others are dragooned into it unwillingly. Get that? Willing for some women, but unwilling for others. As with most Progressive ideas, they almost always are about the taking away personal freedom for the many to give another entitlement (for that is what this is, a mere financial entitlement) to a few.
I applaud the President for his decision and putting women’s health above politics.
And I decry that you have lowered the highest of ideals for simple and crass politics. It was the worst politics ever that passed Obamacare, using every single trick and bending of the rules to get it to Oval Office. You think, Senator Shaheen, that we have not forgotten that process – the arm twisting, the Louisiana Purchase, the Nebraska Cornhusker Kickback, the Dodd hospital, and all of the other craven buy offs? That was not politics?
That’s the problem that the DEMOCRATS have mostly engineered – by making Government Bigger, the politics have grown with it. Given that Government is in almost every aspect of our lives, so you have put the politics. As you grew government to do more and more, you got what you asked for – and more. Blame yourself.
Ideological attacks on women’s health care will continue. I thank my colleagues here today for speaking out against those who want to turn back the clock on women, to limit access and availability of women’s health services. We are watching.
Your play on this has been nothing less than an ideological fixation of promoting socialized healthcare, using “womens’ health” as a mere banner. Kettle, pot, black.
You have given yourself a huge problem – having once seen what Government will give, when the Party in power changes, you may well see what Government will no longer give. After all, you, Jeanne Shaheen, have helped to move the needle from”Rights from our Creator” to “Rights given by Government – if you have the right lobbyists and votes”.
This will be a mistake I hope that haunts you for the rest of your life. This encapsulates the entire problem of moving our society from an absolute morality to one of relativism where morality decomposes to “what I believe is right at the time”.
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Update: In reading Newsbusters, it seems that the price of contraceptives is even cheaper than the $50 I quoted:
Consider that a simple Google search identified numerous condom wholesalers including Undercover Condoms that sells such things for as little as $100 for a case of 1000. That’s ten cents each. EBay has condoms available for the same amount per unit cost.
As the average person has sex about once or twice a week, this is a cost of about $10 a year all available with the click of a mouse without having to leave one’s home.
For those preferring birth control pills, Planned Parenthood claims these can cost as little as $15 a month.
Walmart is cheaper!
Heck, you’ve probably heard in the past few weeks cynical media members pointing out that 98 percent of Catholics use birth control.
If that’s the case, it doesn’t seem that anyone in our country is having a hard time finding it.
As such, the shifting of this debate away from the first amendment protection of freedom of religion to folks having their contraceptives taken away is indeed mischievous, and all those not only letting the White House get away with it but also aiding and abetting the misinformation are guilty of media malpractice.
Figures – Govt can’t even get a bulk price rate…but remember, Freedom and Liberty is priceless!
