At the Heart of the Government Shutdown; Obamacare and Abortion

Jim HardenYou and I are being forced to make a choice. Obamacare brazenly mandates that all U.S. citizens purchase health insurance that directly pays for abortion and abortion-causing ‘birth control,’ or face stiff financial penalties. This violates the religious beliefs and moral convictions of millions of Americans. Curiously, Planned Parenthood (PP), the nation’s largest abortion provider, had a hand in developing these mandates and has been hired by the Federal Government to enroll members in the new State health care exchanges beginning October 1st. However, Obamacare is experiencing massive resistance and is currently in flux. The Senate is deliberating whether to delay funding for Obamacare till January 2015. If they vote to pass the Blackburn Amendment then the deadline for compliance will be postponed for one year. 

Twenty-three states have passed measures barring the use of health insurance premiums to directly fund surgical abortion, but there remain several problems even in those states:

  1. Most insurance companies do not have ‘pro-life’ plans.   Cuomo on Reproductive Health Act
  2. Since most plans cover abortion and due to the long-standing Hyde Amendment forbidding federal funding of abortion, an ‘abortion surcharge’ of at least $1 per month will be deducted from each employee paycheck under section 1303 of Obamacare.  
  3. All federally subsidized plans available in all 50 States will include abortion and abortion-causing contraception which will be paid for by tax dollars. 
  4. Every plan, including those that do not cover surgical abortion, treats abortion-causing ‘birth control’ as a separate issue from abortion. Even if you are fortunate enough to find and enroll in a plan that does not cover surgical abortion, it will cover abortion-causing contraception without co-pay or deductible. These ‘contraceptive’ methods include the Pill, IUDs, the morning after pill (Plan B), and the week after pill (Ella) – which are all proven to create inhospitable uterine environments making it difficult for the fertilized egg to implant in the uterine lining thereby ending a pregnancy (i.e. abortion). This does not even address the extreme cancer-causing nature of these drugs (see National Institute of Health Report and World Health Organization Report).

CompassCare’s policy on contraception stands in stark contrast to Planned Parenthood’s and the prevailing conventional wisdom. Given the government takeover of American medicine via Obamacare and the fact that forced contraception coverage creates a massive violation of religious liberty, we thought it timely to discuss CompassCare’s position. CompassCare educates all patients on all forms of contraception and how they work. However, CompassCare never provides or refers for contraception.

So why doesn’t CompassCare refer for or provide contraception, aside from the obvious carcinogenic and abortifacient nature of a majority of the methods? Doesn’t it reduce non-marital pregnancy and the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases (STD)? The simple answer is, “No.” Why? Because of a sociological phenomenon called “risk compensation.” Dr. Jokin de Irala, Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Navarre in Madrid, Spain, defines risk compensation as people increasing “risk-taking behaviors if they perceive themselves to be at less risk due to a technological preventive measure. The benefits of an intervention can be offset by this increase in risk taking” (video minute 12:30). Dr. de Irala goes on to site examples such as sunscreen use and increased skin cancer; seat belts and increased reckless driving. In regards to sexual activity, if students are told that condom use will protect them from pregnancy and STDs, they will likely increase the number of sexual partners and the frequency of sexual contact, thereby offsetting the potentially protective effects of the technology. Therefore pregnancy and STD rates go up with ‘safe sex’ campaigns because of increased risk-taking behaviors. It’s also important to note that condoms have been proven ineffective at avoiding HPV, Herpes, and Chlamydia (New England Journal of Medicine June 22, 2006 Vol 354, No 25 shows 100% condom use equals 38% HPV infection rate). 

According to the Guttmacher Institute 54% of all abortions were given to women who became pregnant during the same month they were using a contraceptive method. The percentage of unmarried births skyrocketed from 18% in 1980 to 41% by 2010, and STD rates are at epidemic levels despite the massive amounts of resources pouring into ‘safe sex’ education. Studies have demonstrated that the introduction of contraception has actually increased the incidence of pregnancy and STD rates as seen in Britain, the U.S., and other places, while rates decline dramatically when abstinence or fidelity is promoted as in Uganda.

Ignoring the facts, Obamacare and Planned Parenthood are committed to providing free, easily accessible abortion-causing ‘contraception’ under the guise of women’s health. Now they want you and me to pay for it through our health insurance premiums or face fines. You and I are being forced to make a choice.