Commentary by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
The pro-contraception lobby is continuing to present alleged victims of the Church’s fight over the government’s plan to force them to offer insurance that covers birth control, with the latest being a nurse in a Catholic hospital who claims she plans to stay on her parent’s insurance policy because her birth control is too expensive and her health plan doesn’t cover it.
CNSNews.com is reporting that Megan Iturralade was introduced to the press last Friday via a conference call by DNC Chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL). Iturralade works at a Catholic hospital in Tacoma Washington and complained about how difficult it is to obtain birth control out-of-pocket.
“Thank goodness for the president’s health care reform law, which will allow me to remain on my parents’ insurance plan until I’m 26,” Iturralade said.
“Now, because of the leadership of President Obama women like me will have access to free preventative care, including contraception no matter where we work, because our insurance companies and not our employers will cover contraceptive costs.”
As if her politics were not already quite clear, she went on to say: “I know I and other women in Washington have been watching the assault on our health care by politicians like Mitt Romney, and I know the majority of us don’t appreciate having our medical choices dictated to us. And there are going to be consequences for those who insist on pressing forward with these archaic actions and mindsets, and at least for Mitt Romney that consequence is clearly going to be that he’s going to lose the presidential election.”
Iturralade’s story is just the latest edition in the ongoing battle to change the narrative on the controversial HHS mandate from one of religious freedom – which is politically toxic for the president- to one of access to birth control which is much more effective for him in an election year.
Regardless of the politics surrounding the mandate, the U.S. bishops, led by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, have vowed to keep fighting until it is overturned by either the legislature or the courts. To date, religious employers such as EWTN and Ave Maria University have filed suit, as well as several state attorneys general, with many more suits expected in the near future.
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