Powered By Blogger

The principles that rule this blog

Principles that will govern my thoughts as I express them here (from my opening statement):


  • Freedom of the individual should be as total as possible, limited only by the fact that nobody should be free to cause physical injury to another, or to deprive another person of his freedoms.
  • Government is necessary primarily to provide those services that private enterprise won't, or won't at a price that people can afford.
  • No person has a right to have his own beliefs on religious, moral, political, or other controversial issues imposed on others who do not share those beliefs.

I believe that Abraham Lincoln expressed it very well:

“The legitimate object of government is to do for a community of people whatever they need to have done, but cannot do, at all, or cannot
so well do, for themselves — in their separate, individual capacities.”


Comments will be invited, and I will attempt to reply to any comments that are offered in a serious and non-abusive manner. However, I will not tolerate abusive or profane language (my reasoning is that this is my blog, and so I can control it; I wouldn't interfere with your using such language on your own!)

If anyone finds an opinion that I express to be contrary to my principles, they are welcome to point this out. I hope that I can make a rational case for my comments. Because, in fact, one label I'll happily accept is rationalist.

Sunday, July 13, 2014

The right to free contraception?

The opponents of the Supreme Court's decision in the Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores case seem to think that there is this tremendous need for women to have totally free access to contraception. Apparently contraception is so important to women's health that no woman should be forced to pay even a small amount (since I have seen a statement that the contraceptives in question are available for as low as $9 a month!) I cannot see why contraception is more important than anti-hypertensives, anti-diabetic drugs, etc. Nobody seems to think those need be provided free.

If the regulation in question required all drugs to be provided free, and Hobby Lobby were simply asking for exclusion of the four methods of contraception to which they object, this might be more rightly a question of women's rights vs. religious freedom, but it is not. The Obama administration has somehow declared that women's rights include the right to free contraception, and if men do not have the right to free Viagra, it seems if anything that the administration is being discriminatory. But apparently it is all right to discriminate against men, as it is not to discriminate against women.

No comments: