So remember a few weeks back when Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine was
acting like a boss, taking names, and kicking ass in Steubenville? Yeah, that’s
over now.
According to Jim
Provance for the Toledo Blade, 20
Democratic women object to DeWin’e objections to the mandate that employers
provide coverage for contraception and other reproductive services under
Obamacare. Some of the women object to the interference in regards to the HPV
vaccine specifically not just the birth control (yeah, in Ohio they want slutty kids to get cancer, that will
teach them, those sluts).
DeWine and 12 other GOP state attorneys general signed a letter taking
advantage of a public comment period on the US Department of Health and Human
Services’ (DHHS) proposed regulations to Obamacare. DeWine said:
“It’s a matter of freedom of religion from my point of view. It’s not about contraception or abortion…I believe this regulation violates [federal] Religious Freedom Restoration Act signed by Bill Clinton about 20 years ago. It builds upon the great tradition of religious liberty by ensuring the federal government does not substantially burden the free exercise of people’s religion.”
And to that, I say FUCK YOU. You have the freedom of your religion, but I have the freedom not to be subjected to your religion as well. I'd call on atheists to help women out, but they kind of hate women too (see Dawkins' twitter feed for more). The Obama Administration attempts to
sidestep the mandate for religious organizations by requiring insurance
companies to provide the contraception coverage for free as part of broader
policies.
The letter from the attorneys general asks that the exemption for
religious organizations be extended to others with religious concerns, even
though they challenge the concept that such coverage would be provided by
insurers. There is no exemption for private employers.
Liz Brown, the Ohio Democratic Party’s deputy executive director said, “DeWine
wants to allow all employers the right to deny crucial health-care services
under the so-call conscience clause under Obamacare. That puts 3.3 million Ohio
women at risk. If Mike DeWine has his way, any employer could drop critical
healthcare services because of political or personal beliefs”
Can we just say it? Republicans don't believe women are people, and thus women aren't entitled to healthcare.
DeWine submitted a friend-of-the-court brief supporting a federal lawsuit challenging the mandate by the owners of Freshway Food from Sidney, Ohio. DeWine said, “There’s a number of cases where the federal government has been stayed from implementing this pending a full-blown hearing. They say religion prohibits them from offering what they consider to be abortion—the morning-after pill, the week-after pill.”
DeWine submitted a friend-of-the-court brief supporting a federal lawsuit challenging the mandate by the owners of Freshway Food from Sidney, Ohio. DeWine said, “There’s a number of cases where the federal government has been stayed from implementing this pending a full-blown hearing. They say religion prohibits them from offering what they consider to be abortion—the morning-after pill, the week-after pill.”
DeWine doesn’t know what either of those things are. DeWine
like other Republican attorneys general who challenge the constitutionality of
Obamacare. The US Supreme Court upheld Obamacare’s constitutionality striking
down the provision mandating states expand Medicaid as a condition for
receiving federal funding (Republican Governors are rejecting the Medicaid
expansion at the cost of the poor, but we knew that would happen after all
Jesus only cares about my vag not the poor). Democrats are allegedly preparing
former Hamilton County Commissioner David Pepper to run against DeWine in 2014.
I’m suggesting we start our own religion that states we have
to put men through invasive and necessary medical procedures and deny
medication because our god (the invisible space hippo that lives on the other
side of the moon) says so. I’m thinking we begin with colonoscopies for Viagra prescriptions because
that just makes sense, but remember dudes you have to pay for all these procedures too, and then your insurance rates will go up like women's. Or maybe we just decide to use all the Jehovah Witness’s
restrictions on medicine as the national standard? Why should women be the only
one to suffer under tyrannical religious zealotry? Let’s share.
All of this puts my in mind of the cray-cray legislation coming
out of just about every state right now in an attempt to double down on
destroying reproductive choice. As you all know, this is all an attempt to get
a federal lawsuit to challenge Roe. I heard a rumor the other night the Alabama
voted to ban all abortions . This is thrown down as North Dakota,
Tennessee, Idaho, Indiana, Mississippi, Ohio, and many, many more deal with
various forms of personhood. However, North Dakota’s lone abortion clinic is
holding. I think they will have to drag that woman out of there with a crowbar.
Also in Kansas, Dr. Tiller’s clinic just reopened.
