The following excerpts come from the brief filed Jan. 28 on behalf of the Beverly LaHaye Foundation in support of the Hobby Lobby case against contraception coverage mandated by Obamacare.
….A. The [Government’s] Report Does Not Support the Government’s Assertion that Increased Use of Contraceptives Will Promote Women’s Health.
….At the risk of stating the obvious, getting pregnant is not like catching a contagious disease. Myriad factors – e.g., religion, age, marital status, social situation, medical condition, cultural background, economic circumstances– will play a part in when and whether a woman engages in sexual activity and whether, doing so, she is seeking to get pregnant, is trying to avoid pregnancy, is ambivalent about getting pregnant, or does not consider whether she will get pregnant. Thus, the Government’s “vaccination model” of decreasing unintended pregnancies (i.e., assuming increased availability of contraception will decrease incidence of the “disease” of unintended pregnancy) grossly oversimplifies the issues involved.
Indeed, right from the outset, Government’s case is based on a false premise, i.e., that there is a clear distinction between intended and unintended pregnancies. In fact, “[r]esearchers have long abandoned the false dichotomy of intended versus unintended pregnancy.” Some women welcome “unintended” pregnancies, and some “intended” pregnancies end in abortion due to complications or a change in a woman’s social situation.
Even assuming arguendo that there is a clear-cut, measurable category of pregnancies that are “unintended,” the Government has failed to demonstrate that 1) lowering the costs of contraceptives (to zero) for those covered by insurance will lead to any appreciable increased usage among those currently at risk of unintended pregnancy within that population and to a decrease in unintended pregnancies within that population, and 2) unintended pregnancies have negative health consequences for women. Rather, the Government’s argument is based on a chain of presumed causes and effects, and the evidence supporting each link is attenuated, ambiguous, disputed, or non-existent. Indeed, “[n]early all of the research is based on correlation, not evidence of causation, and most of the studies suffer from significant, admitted flaws in methodology.”
1. The Government has failed to show that the Mandate will lead to increased usage among those at risk of unintended pregnancy or to a decrease in unintended pregnancies among those covered by the Mandate.
The Government hypothesizes that women are deterred from obtaining contraceptives because of their cost, and that therefore the Mandate will increase utilization of contraceptives. However, its evidence is based on supposition, dubious analogies, and assumed but unproven correlations.
The [government] cites a Kaiser Family Foundation report as evidence that women are more likely than men to report cost-related barriers to receiving medical care. The study in question asked men and women whether they or a family member had delayed or foregone certain health care in the past year because of the cost. Thus, the fact that more women than men, by a factor of a few percentage points, reported they or a family member had done so says little about which gender is actually foregoing medical care because of the cost.
The [government] also cites studies showing that the costs of cancer screening, dental services, mammograms and pap smears may deter women from receiving those services. Yet, even if these studies in fact supported [their] statement, none of them makes the necessary connection between women deferring or foregoing this type of care (i.e., screening tests) and women failing to buy contraceptives because of the cost. It is far from a logical corollary that a woman who delays getting her annual pap smear because of the cost will also decide to stop using contraceptives because of the cost.
Regarding contraceptives in particular, [the government’s] own sources show that 89% of women avoiding pregnancy are already practicing contraception, and that among the other 11%, lack of access is not a statistically significant reason why they do not contracept.
The [government’s] citation to a study by Santelli and Melnikas in support of its argument that increased use of contraceptives will lead to declines in the rate of unintended pregnancy is typical of its approach to this topic. The Santelli study examined, inter alia, whether increased use of contraception by teens was associated with decreased pregnancies. Thus, the study is based on increased usage, a factor that the IOM failed to establish will result from the Mandate, because it failed to prove that cost was a deterrent factor to contraceptive use. Second, the study was limited to teens, a subgroup far narrower than and differing in significant ways from the group affected by the Mandate.
Indeed, this failure to consider the particular demographic involved is a common flaw in the studies cited by [the government] and other defenders of the Mandate. Being limited to, e.g., teens or poor women, these studies lack probative value on the effect of the Mandate on the demographic at issue: employed women, the wives of employed men, and the female dependents of employed parents.
Undeterred, the [government] concludes, “The elimination of cost-sharing for contraception therefore could greatly increase its use, including use of the more effective and long-acting methods, especially among poor and low-income women most at risk for unintended pregnancy.” The final logical lapse in [the government’s] treatment of this topic is that poor and low-income women are already eligible to receive no-cost contraceptives under myriad state and federal programs. Yet, as the Report itself notes, they have significantly higher rates of unintended pregnancy than that part of the female population not guaranteed free contraceptives.
The … Government, seems oblivious to the lessons learned over the five decades since the advent of hormonal contraceptives, namely, that while for the individual, a contraceptive drug or device may prevent a pregnancy, this result cannot be extrapolated to a societal scale. Increasing access to contraceptives affects not only those who were already at risk for unintended pregnancy. Rather, it changes behaviors and expectations across society….
To read the entire brief (many other arguments devastating to Obamacare mandate), click here.
Its sad that this government feels the need to bring up things from the bedroom. After all chastity has been proven to work far greater and morally. Women are sold that idea that we are cheap, that we have no self control and that we are be used by men. They are also making monsters out of our men, they can have it all without taking any responsibility. Intimacy is no longer a gift between a husband and a wife, but its now a lustful need of many immoral people. They are feeding our daughters these ideals, our young men no longer seek a virgin because they want an experienced person instead. Its all about pleasure and selfish reasons. I loath the direction that our country is heading, I loath that I have to live through this and watch my children grow up in this ugly immoral mess we are living. The stress we are confronted with to correct the lies they are feeding our children, is a full time non stop job. But once they are 18, forget it….you better beg God that your children will choose right and that you remain faithful no matter how much they turn away from God! That will be the real test!
Everywhere I turn its not easy to make good quality friendships that are like minded. You can tell how many are scandalized by the desensitization and are trying to endure this. But who am I to complain, I look to those in our past, our early church fathers, what they had to go through, how about those in the old and new testament. They all had to endure what was needed to and remained faithful.
I know it’s not the majority, but there are still moral young women (and men) in our country. I taught grade school and high school. I learned that many girls and boys are corrupted during sleepovers. The parents may not feel comfortable with sleepovers, but they dread the thought of their children suffering “unpopularity.” Many young people begin their first experiences with drinking, drugs and sex during sleepovers. When I was raising my four girls, I was surprised to learn who, among the parents, were lenient. Parents mocked me and called me, “Nazi Mom.” I didn’t care then or now. I sent my kids to the University of Dallas and they remained virtuous. Parents also send their young Catholic sons to University of Dallas to keep them in their faith. The same is true of Franciscan University, Ave Maria, Thomas Aquinas and many, many others. Google “conservative Catholic colleges” and you’ll learn of those schools who emphasize solid educations while focusing on our faith and what God wants. Some parents emphasized prestige and sports. Many of those parents now regret those decisions. Choose God first and you won’t regret it. Your children will have a greater chance at a moral, loving and enjoyable marriage if they submit to Christ first. Three of my four daughters are very, very happily married, and the fourth is considering consecrated life. It can be done!! (By the way, my youngest did not speak to me for two weeks when I told her that my husband and I wanted her to go to U of Dallas for one year. After that year, she could go to any school that she chose. Three months into her freshman year, she phoned us to thank us for sending her to U of Dallas. At 24 years old, she is now very happily married with a son.
Diane I am grateful that it worked out well for your and your girls. Unfortunately it doesn’t always work out for the best for many parents. Remember sometimes we parents can try to do everything right but still there is always that one child any good parent worries about. You are blessed that is for sure. It doesn’t always come out that perfect for others. I had to admit that I wasn’t the only influence in my children’s life….there are others.
God be praised! Thank you, Diane, for telling your story. And for outlining the grief your one daughter gave you before thanking you. That goes for the grief and interference brought on by other parents as well. Too often we seek to appease instead of being firm.
It is possible. From one Nazi-mom to another.
As my mother used to say, “You have six sisters. You have a sleepover every night. Now go to sleep.” She was right. And so were you in protecting the fruits clear on to the harvest.
That said, Abeca, has a point, too. I gave my mother plenty of grief for all of her hard work and persistence. A tough nut, I suppose, or perhaps a dense one. But her faithfulness in sticking to her guns even though I derided her did speak to me always. Even when we weren’t speaking.
So often even the most rebellious rebel can turn around as Truth is never quiet.
Just look at the “warning” labels on contraceptives. They certainly do not promote health.
The only 100% way to refrain from having children is abstinence from sex.
Let people pay for their own sins. The government should not force the rest of us to financially support the sins of others.
It’s interesting that the article keeps referring to the “government”. The government in this is case is our elected official OBAMA and his Dept of Justice appointee Eric HOLDER.
And all those in the HOUSE & SENATE who did not read what they gave Obama to sign into law.
Betty, you are so correct. Contraceptives do not promote health! They not only interfere and or destroy healthy reproductive organs. They cause a slew of other problems and diseases. The medical establishment and our government officials do not want people to know this. We trust the medical and political professionals to our own peril.
CONTRACEPTION IS NOT HEALTH CARE
If it the debate were purely secular and actually about HEALTH, the left’s push would be for abstinence first or the use of a condom (can fail, but is dirt cheap compared with drugs and without the side effects) as these are the ONLY two methods that prevent the spread of venereal disease. Disease being that which is opposed to health.
Instead, the left promotes the natural function of the reproductive organs – babies – as the potentially risky, unhealthy byproduct to be avoided. So you have a bunch of youth believing they are ‘safe’ only to open themselves up to all manner of DISEASE. And that which is natural – a baby.
Pray God we take back common sense and the teaching of our own children.
Contraception is a MORTAL SIN.
One may NOT receive Holy Communion while in the State of Mortal Sin. This would be another sin of Sacrilege against the Body and Blood of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
CCC: ” 2399 The regulation of births represents one of the aspects of responsible fatherhood and motherhood. Legitimate intentions on the part of the spouses do not justify recourse to morally unacceptable means (for example, direct sterilization or contraception).”
CCC: ” 2370 Periodic continence, that is, the methods of birth regulation based on self-observation and the use of infertile periods, is in conformity with the objective criteria of morality.
These methods respect the bodies of the spouses, encourage tenderness between them, and favor the education of an authentic freedom.
In contrast, “every action which, whether in anticipation of the conjugal act, or in its accomplishment, or in the development of its natural consequences, proposes, whether as an end or as a means, to render procreation impossible” is intrinsically evil:
Thus the innate language that expresses the total reciprocal self-giving of husband and wife is overlaid, through contraception, by an objectively contradictory language, namely, that of not giving oneself totally to the other. This leads not only to a positive refusal to be open to life but also to a falsification of the inner truth of conjugal love, which is called upon to give itself in personal totality. . . . The difference, both anthropological and moral, between contraception and recourse to the rhythm of the cycle . . . involves in the final analysis two irreconcilable concepts of the human person and of human sexuality.”
I agree Abeca with everything you wrote. I’d like to add that most of the post abortive women I work with “had” been contracepting at the time they got pregnant.
SandraD yes its true…sad too.
Our focus ought to be on Chastity. Period. As parents we are all supposed to take our children into adulthood. Then let us parents not shirk from that gift from God. We have been given so much to give back (children who will become adults who will be responsible for their futures and pay that forward). Those of us who are grandparents can contribute to our grandchildren’s understanding of the importance of chastity in their young lives. They DO listen to us, probably more than they do to their parents. We CAN do something about the disorder of contraception. THAT is a disease, the kind of thinking that encourages random sexual encounters. We can make a difference, and we ought to try. The remarks in the legal brief are great, but they must reflect our own rational moral values first.
Yes life lady its important to continue spreading the message on Chastity especially at their level to reach them. They will get it, with our prayers and love, many will follow.
If more adults united in this mission, we would pray that they run into our children and re-enforce the truth. It does help, one person at time. God help us to be influential in the lives of our youth today! AMEN!
Mothers who contracept will not teach Chasity to their children–how could they? They obviously don’t believe nor understand what God intended. For two years I tried to present a chasity mother/daughter father/son program throughout the SF Diocese–only mom’s who practice NFP showed up with their daughters and Father’s with wives who practiced NFP with their sons. And Priests allowing it in their parishes? How could they when the majority of the women in their parish contracept. No, it will never work unless parents learn the Truth, follow the Truth, and practice the Truth.
and our Shepherds teach the Truth…….
Mothers who dress immodestly also cannot be expected to teach their daughters modesty!
When I see a young mother with a young daughter or daughters and the mother is immodestly dressed, I pray for that poor child or children!
May God have mercy on an amoral Amerika!
Viva Cristo Rey!
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
As long as NFP is looked upon as ‘Catholic birth control’ there will be no ‘winning’ the argument. Marriage is that vocation ordered toward the generosity of saying yes to bringing children into the world. Accent on ‘generosity.’ So while NFP might be approved by the Church because it works with nature, the mentality of control that often motivates it is that which is disordered. Because when an ‘accident’ happens that is outside of our control, the NFP method is then tossed or scorned. Why? Because the motive in using it is, quite often, to avoid the fruits of one’s vocation.
IOW: Intentions matter.
And Kenneth you are right on with regard to modest dress. The Church can teach/preach forever, but if parents reject said teachings in practice, that is what the children will learn. And very often imitate despite what the Church says.
Ann,
I also believe that immodest wedding gowns are also one of the reasons that too many marriages fail, especially Catholic ones.
How can God be expected to bless something (a marriage) at which His Mother’s warnings on immodest fashions are ignored!
May God have mercy on an amoral Amerika!
Viva Cristo Rey!
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
Kenneth,
You are precisely right. That said, I know many believe that men should be given sensitivity training ad nauseum about when to react and when not to react to women. You know, if I wear low cut at work, look at my eyes you chauvinist. If I wear low cut at a nightclub, you’d better check out the whole or comment in some approving way or else I’ll question your ‘orientation.’
But how many poor priests, that is MEN, called to lives of celibacy for our benefit, are called upon to give Holy Communion and the blessings of Matrimony to women who proffer up that which in all mercy should be covered up. Hence the saying, “Have merrrrrcy.”
Methinks many forget the origins of that phrase.
God bless.
In 1978 I decided I was ready to do it. I went to the library and researched contraception. I went to the store and bought what I thought was healthy and the best protection for me. Later I went to a college clinic and got the pill. Later on I went to a doctor and was prescribed a diaphragm. At no time did I expect anyone, but myself to take care of my business. My husband and I waited to have a child until we could afford the insurance to pay for it. All of this time I was not a practicing Catholic. Relying on others to take care of you usually fails. Government fails, boyfriends fail, and contraception fails if you don’t use it correctly. A society that tells young women they are not responsible at one end and endlessly tells them tho do it on the other is criminal.
Contraception is an issue that our Church has lost the battle on for one very obvious reason: it provides a social good for Catholic families. When Humanae Vitae was released in 1968, it showed the complete of understanding of the Catholic family unit that have struggled for centuries with unwanted pregnancies and a family size that strains the parents patience, mental health, finances, and well being. Over 90% of US Catholic women contracept, and for good reason. They have evaluated the Church’s arguments and found them wanting. Let’s change the teaching to protect Catholic domestic tranquility.
good cause, the Church has not lost the battle against evil. There is no social good in poisoning our women with chemicals, and inserting mechanical devices into their own bodies, etc.
You are placing sexual activity (lust) above everything else. – That is why there are so many divorces. When lust is gone for that person, they find someone else and go their own ways.
The problem within the Church is that most Bishops and their Diocese Priests do not actively encourage Catholics to study the “Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition” at home. Further they rarely if at all preach about the MORTAL SIN of contraception from the pulpit. Therefore there is no teaching at all.
Catholics who contracept may NOT receive HOLY COMMUNION.
good cause, it is a proven fact that most abortions are because chemical and other forms of contraception did not work. Evil begets evil.
The Church can not and will not change good teaching for evil teachings.
People like you who support sodomy marriage (per your writings) have no authority to pretend to know or quote Church teaching documents.
The devil is deceitful, and you are one of his tools.
good cause, so you want to change Church teaching to preserve “tranquility” within the Church ? ? ?
How about those baptized Catholics who refuse to adhere to Church teaching – join a Protestant sect instead that adheres to their own personal beliefs rather than the will of God?
good cause – read the Bible – Jesus did not come to bring “tranquility” so everyone could do their own thing (sins).
You are advocating RELATIVISM where there is no right and no wrong.
(Matthew 10:34) – “Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 “For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; 36 and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household.”
(Luke 12:51) – “Do you suppose that I came to grant peace on earth? I tell you, no, but rather division; 52 for from now on five members in one household will be divided, three against two, and two against three…”
(Luke 22:36) – “And He said to them, “But now, let him who has a purse take it along, likewise also a bag, and let him who has no sword sell his robe and buy one.”
People who contracept are closed to LIFE. God gives the gift of life and He provides the graces to those who are open to life. Families who do not contracept are happier, no matter how many children God has allowed. I was open to life and I was blessed with one. I have friends with six beautiful (children) all gifts and everyone thrives because it is a generous and open love. It’s not about selfish, ladder climbing, envious, nor jealous unions where the kids are raised by strangers.
good cause, in a previous post you said that your parents suffered because they chose not to contracept. So let me ask you again, which one of your siblings would you have wished that your parents had contracepted from coming into existence? Do you wish your parents had contracepted you from coming into existence? How did contracepting work out for your own marriage? It seems that contraception has clouded your reason.
Many Americans, Catholic and Protestant alike are not even aware that it was Protestant laws which made contraception illegal in this country. However, ever since contraception was given legal status in our nation, people seem to think that is has only ever been a Catholic issue. Even Mahatma Ghandi, during the last 25 years of his life was an outspoken opponent of contraception and he wasn’t even Christian.
“It is an insult to the fair sex to put up her case in support of birth-control by artificial methods. As it is, man has sufficiently degraded her for his lust, and artificial methods, no matter how well meaning the advocates may be, will still further degrade her. I urge the advocates of artificial methods to consider the consequences. Any large use of the methods is likely to result in the dissolution of the marriage bond and in free love…Birth control to me is a dismal abyss.”
— Mahatma Gandhi
https://oldarchive.godspy.com/life/Gandhi-on-Sex-Marriage-and-Birth-Control-by-Daniel-Vitz.cfm.html
Thank you for that quote, Tracy. I have passed it on to my 18 year old daughter who runs into many Catholic bashers on Yahoo.
God bless!
Your welcome Ann. I would also encourage her, as well as others, to do the research on the history of Birth Control in the United States, as well as the history of contraception in the protestant church. Having knowledge of both of these histories validates the Catholic position,all the more, to those who would rather dismiss Her teaching.
Yet another good reason why it is important to know one’s history.
God bless!