Contraception for All...

Ok, a little late, but a little late is better than never, ask any woman.  Alright, lame attempt at humor.  But armed with a new MacBook Pro and the knowledge that the first full draft of my thesis has been handed in, I feel that I'm in a good place. That being said, let us celebrate a near-universal birth control coverage, that does this weird thing by protecting women from being discriminated against.

Kathleen Sebelius, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, announced on January 20th that most employers are to be required to cover contraception in their health care plans, additionally, other preventative services are to be covered, and get this no cost-sharing.  Mind Blown.

After all, this means birth control will be covered like Viagra.  Because preventing pregnancy should rank next to obtaining an erection.  Of course opponents are arguing that religiously-affiliated employers should be able to opt out, and why I thought of this today is because the Catholics have mounted their offensive.  The Obama administration rejected the push for religious exemptions. However, they allowed for a narrow interpretation where: "Only houses of worship and other religious nonprofits that primarily employ and serve people of the same faith will be exempt. Religiously-affiliated employers who do not qualify for the exemption and are not currently offering contraceptive coverage may apply for transitional relief for a one-year period to give them time to determine how to comply with the rule." Had the full exemption gone through it would have been an excuse to keep millions of women from obtaining these benefits.

All and all I'm pleased, even if this was an attempt to gain support from women before the State of the Union, brought to you by Masterlock and GM, which I'm pretty sure has to be said every time you reference the SOTU.