This is a matter of conscience

While there is little controversy regarding “contraception” when defined as things like condoms, birth control pills, etc. For Catholics, this is a matter of conscience, and it is a personal matter between them and their Church — not a matter for the federal government to decide [“Little late for this debate, NWWednesday, Feb. 8].

The real rub, though, is that the federal government’s definition of “contraception” extends beyond those medicines and devices that prevent conception, to include medicines that act post-conception.

For those who believe that life begins at conception, these so-called “contraceptives” are actually abortion pills — and as Westneat notes, abortion is still very controversial.

So in the eyes of the Catholic Church, and most practicing Catholics, the Obama administration’s dictates are in fact a mandate to provide certain types of abortions as part of their health plans.

— Mark Ursino, Sammamish

It’s an embarrassing time to be a Catholic

It’s an embarrassing time to be a Catholic. Prominent bishops and conservative (quasi) Catholic politicians like Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum decry the Catholic Church being forced to pay for birth control of others, against our apparent collective conscience. How bizarre.

All my life I have paid taxes for wars I did not believe in, executions I do not approve of, political stances not my own — that’s what it means to be part of a social fabric. We constantly must give minimal support to things we personally do not endorse.

If we want to hire people of all faiths and/or none to work alongside us in our hospitals, schools, social service agencies, then we must support them in their reasonable decisions. More importantly, though official Catholic teaching may decry contraception, most good Catholics do not.

Most of us would see loving each other, caring for the poor, speaking out for justice and fostering the other values of Jesus as far more important.

— L. Patrick Carroll, Seattle

Birth control access is a women’s right

A big thank you to Danny Westneat for his Feb. 8 column asking why the U.S. Conference of Bishops — quickly rubber-stamped by Republican presidential hopefuls are launching an assault on birth control coverage under the 2009 national health-insurance law. Birth control, which is practiced, and endorsed by over 98 percent of everybody!

The most twisted part of the church/GOP argument is that mandating that institutions serving the general public be required to cover contraception along with other preventive health care for women is a violation of individual rights and religious freedom!

Excuse me, but the church is no more an individual than is Wal-Mart (recent Supreme Court rulings notwithstanding).

It is the real, oxygen-breathing humans who have the right to decide, on the basis of their own personal beliefs, whether they will take advantage of this health benefit or not. And make no mistake.

Equal access to birth control is a giant question of individual liberty for women.

— Megan Cornish, Seattle

This is a challenge to women’s freedom and right to equality

Denial of women’s access to contraception is another example in the Catholic Church’s long unresolved history of denial of women’s right to equality with men [“Contraception mandate outrages religious groups,” News, Feb. 4].

Now we learn it is also an opinion voiced by three of the Republican candidates for president. The church and the candidates claim that providing contraception access to women who want control over the number of children they bear is an attack on religious freedom.

In reality it is just another thinly disguised attempt to challenge a women’s freedom and right to equality.

— Paul C. Cooper, Sequim

This is an activity of commerce not religion

When the Catholic Church offers health insurance to it’s employees who may or may not be Catholic, they are in the insurance business and should abide by the regulations governing that industry.

This is an activity of commerce not religion. If they operate in the marketplace, they need to follow the rules of the marketplace. This is not an issue of religious freedom and shame on those who characterize it as such.

— Joan Newcomb, Seattle

Look at the commission’s report on birth control

In response to the article “Contraception mandate outrages religious groups” on Feb. 4, and Danny Westneat’s column on Feb. 8, it may be interesting to add that the only teaching on contraception in the Catholic Church totally disregards the findings of the majority report of the Pontifical Commission on Birth Control in 1967.

This commission was made up of priests, physicians, theologians, sociologists, and other professionals including the “real professionals” — long-married couples.

It’s sad to think that the laity understands better than the hierarchy that contraception is the most ethical and realistic approach to reducing the abortion rate, and that it is the best way to guarantee women adequate, affordable health care.

— Sheila Giesler, Lynnwood

It is not their job to control reproduction

With all due respect to the Conference of Bishops, and none at all to the Republican Party, why is it that old, pompous men think its their business to control women and their reproductive organs? Have they ever been pregnant? Have they ever been afraid of getting pregnant?

Isn’t it time for men to stop trying to keep women down? This is not about religious freedom. This is about control over women.

— Robert Reed, Seattle