Yard sign in my community spreading misinformation about healthcare reform.
Women’s reproductive health is not a religious issue
Stand up for religious freedom. Yes I will. I will stand up for any U.S. citizen’s right to attend the faith institution of their choosing. I will stand up and fight any government action that will coerce an individual to practice a state sponsored religion. I will stand up and fight against any regulation that denies citizens the freedom to discuss their sacred beliefs in public. I will fight any government action that mandates an individual must receive a religious based health care service.
Corporations shouldn’t restrict health options
The federal government’s mandate that all insurance should cover FDA-approved prescription contraceptive drugs and devices, surgical sterilization and abortion-inducing drugs is not an issue of religious freedom. Health insurance companies, institutions offering group insurance or organizations that self-insure are not U.S. citizens that make individual choices. They are, under our current system, a necessary vehicle under which people must access health care services.
Religious freedom is freedom to choose
The notion of religious freedom encompasses an individual’s right to access all options for health care services that align with his or her’s religious beliefs. The prohibition of a health care service by the government because of a religion preference is a denial of religious freedom. It is perfectly within the religious freedom of an individual to decline a blood transfusion based on a religious belief. As an important life saving medical intervention, blood transfusions are covered by insurance. It would be folly to suggest that health insurance should not cover blood transfusions because certain organizations don’t believe in them.
Hidden agenda
It is sad that the “Stand Up For Religious Freedom” organization has twisted the meaning of religious freedom to organize against women’s health. This group is nothing more than a collection of pro-life organizations that are bent on limiting services to women for their reproductive health.
What will you fight for?
I will fight for their right to organize, advertise and peacefully assemble in public. I will fight equally as hard to spread the truth about their misinformation and propaganda against a health care mandate that will save lives and allow our citizen’s true religious freedom to select the health care service they have determined is best for them.