Palin Will “Fight to the Death” To Stop Birth Control Coverage

Details: Category: News; Published on Wednesday, February 15, 2012

NEWS IN BRIEFS: Last night on FOX’s Off the Record with Greta Van Susteren, Sarah Palin weighed in on the contraception controversy and after calling mandatory contraception coverage an “assault on freedom” Palin quoted a guest from an earlier FOX News program saying, “We will fight to the death for our freedom of religion”. She continued her hyperbole by calling the health insurance coverage of contraception an “Un-American act by the President”.

The controversy started early last week when Catholic Cardinals came out strong saying that the provisions in Health Care Reform that required coverage by insurance of contraception would violate their religion if they provided their employees with the choice to use birth control.

The issue quickly made its way into the GOP Primaries, with most of the candidates railing about religious freedom while they ignored the polls that say 61% of Americans support the government mandated coverage, and that 61% of Catholics themselves support it as well.

In changing the requirement to ensure coverage is provided by the insurance company and not the employer when there is a religious question, Obama thought that he had made a reasonable compromise with those who were concerned with the issue as a matter of religion. The compromise was viewed by the public and many religious leaders including Catholics as a good compromise or at least a step in the right direction.

It was however, not enough for the Catholic Cardinals and those on in the GOP who wanted to continue to make this a wedge issue. Senate Minority Leader Mitch Mcconnell fueled the fire when he told Bob Schieffer on CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday, “This is what happens when the government tries to interfere with your religious beliefs” and said that he would support legislation that would “overcome the President’s opposition.” Mcconnell conceded that it would be difficult to actually make any changes legislatively but not before taking a swipe at the President saying that “It would be difficult as long as the President is rigid in his view that he gets to decide what somebody else’s religion is.”

Many other prominent Republicans have decided to come out strong against the will of 66% of women who believe the measure is a good one. Implying the President is somehow taking away your freedom of religion by giving women who may not otherwise be able to afford contraception the choice to use it, may be the wedge issue that reveals itself as an election tactic more than a religious infringement.

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