REPLACING YOUR DOCTOR WITH YOUR BOSS

I find it astounding that our congress is actually debating a bill that basically says that a boss's religious convictions can determine the health benefits that he (most bosses seem to be men) will provide for the employees. That means that if you are a woman who works for Macy's and become pregnant at age 35 and your doctor recommends you have an amniocentisis, but like Rick Santorum your boss thinks that those tests lead to too many abortions, you're out of luck. For several strange reasons, the Republican party seems to be more and more controlled by people with very extreme positions.

With the Santorums of the country trying desperately to marry the government with their churches, it seems that women are the primary targets for loosing their rights, (Usually it's the gay community). How can it be a good idea for the boss to make decisions that women and their doctors ought to be making? A Catholic woman who works for Mercy Hospital doesn't have to use birth control just because the hospital provides it for women who do. If Terry Lundgren who is the CEO of Macy's doesn't believe in contraception, should all his women employees have 16 kids?

The scariest part of this bill ( Blunt-Rubio ) is that it would actually allow an employer who didn't believe in radiation for cancer opt out of giving his employees coverage. Really. There was a letter in our local paper yesterday from a woman who's had it with "cranky old celibate men" (the bishops) and the ultra right wing of the Republican party trying to tell people how to manage their reproductive lives. Calling a bill like this "Religious Freedom" is really nonsense. "The campaign to stop Birth Control" would be closer to the truth.