It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.
Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.
Thank you.
Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.
The only thing I really hang on the Democrats is they let the Lobbyists write the law...
originally posted by: Aloysius the Gaul
a reply to: bobs_uruncle
Part of employing people is these things called "terms and conditions of employment", many of which are laid down in law.
"Forcing" "nuns" to pay for their employees health insurance that includes birth control is not extortion, doesn't' stop the nus from exercising their religion, and is no more unreasonable than allowing employees to pay for their own birth control out of wages and salaries - which would also be paid "by the nuns".
Or do you think that employers should be allowed to prohibit the spending of wages and salaries on birth control because they have a religious objection to using it themselves too??
It's a non-argument.
originally posted by: M5xaz
originally posted by: Sremmos80
a reply to: Violater1
because then others will make sure that their employees have coverage.
Why do people care so much about other peoples birth control...
They don't
But some want to FORCE others to PAY for THEIR birth control!
Use YOUR OWN money!
The nuns' insurance is issued by the Christian Brothers and, as such, is considered a "church plan" which is not required to provide birth control coverage. The court decision states that "it is clear Christian Brothers need not, and will not, provide contraceptive coverage if the Little Sisters opt out of the Mandate." The nuns are "seeking legal relief from a non-existent problem."
As it turns out, the group operates under a “church plan,” a belatedly recognized category that means Little Sisters employees can’t get contraception coverage directly from the organization’s insurance company, as is the case for employees of most exempted nonprofits under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). So the Little Sisters are fighting against signing a form that, even if signed, wouldn’t lead to contraception coverage for its employees anyway.
I certify that, on account of religious objections,the organization opposes providing coverage for some or all of any contraceptive services that would otherwise be required to be covered; the organization is organized and operates as a nonprofit entity; and the organization holds itself out as a religious organization.
I declare that I have made this certification, and that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, it is true and correct. I also declare that this certification is complete.
originally posted by: EvillerBob
originally posted by: Aloysius the Gaul
a reply to: bobs_uruncle
Part of employing people is these things called "terms and conditions of employment", many of which are laid down in law.
"Forcing" "nuns" to pay for their employees health insurance that includes birth control is not extortion, doesn't' stop the nus from exercising their religion, and is no more unreasonable than allowing employees to pay for their own birth control out of wages and salaries - which would also be paid "by the nuns".
Or do you think that employers should be allowed to prohibit the spending of wages and salaries on birth control because they have a religious objection to using it themselves too??
It's a non-argument.
It's a very good argument.
Let's take the same principle and look at it in another scenario. I'll use a big glaring example because I can't be bothered with subtlety at the moment.
Imagine you know someone who owes you money, so you and a friend decide to go to their house to "encourage" them to repay you. Your friend says "You should take a gun and shoot them if they don't pay up." You refuse, saying "I'm not prepared to shoot anybody, sorry, but you can bring a gun and do it if you like." You visit the person, they refuse to pay, so your friend shoots them.
In many jurisidictions, you would both be guilty. Saying "I won't do it, so you can do it" doesn't absolve you, because you are still complicit.
That is the same principle in this case. The nuns are saying that signing the paperwork is the equivalent of saying "I won't, but you can", which makes them complicit.
Why does it matter if the employee can still spend the money on contraceptives? Because there is choice. Whether the money is paid by the nuns or the government, that payment is still identified as being for contraception. There is no element of choice. Whoever pays it, the nuns still feel complicit in the provision of funding specifically for contraception.
Once the money is paid to the employee, however, that employee is free to choose how it is spent. It is not specifically for contraception.
So it is absolutely not a non-argument. It's actually a very difficult position for the nuns and I sympathize greatly. I don't have any objections whatsoever to contraception but I appreciate that they do, and that it is part of a much wider established theological approach not just a random personal dislike.
originally posted by: Violater1
This double standard that the A.G. is allowing is despicable in the least.