Health-Care to Crush Religious Freedom? Fight Like Saint George

©2010, Randall A. Beeler

"Not with the humour of hunters
Or savage skill in war,
But ordering all things with dead words,
Strings shall they make of beasts and birds,
And wheels of wind and star.

"They shall come mild as monkish clerks,
With many a scroll and pen;
And backward shall ye turn and gaze,
Desiring one of Alfred's days,
When pagans still were men …
 
"By this sign you shall know them,
The breaking of the sword,
And man no more a free knight,
That loves or hates his lord.

"Yea, this shall be the sign of them,
The sign of the dying fire;
And Man made like a half-wit,
That knows not of his sire.

(—G. K. Chesterton, Ballad of White Horse)

So the deal was cut and the health-care bill is passed. Whether this means that men, women, and children will be cut upon in sterilized rooms and judgment passed on them by means of public funding remains to be seen.

We will not look on, but will carry on the battle like Saint George against the dragon, until the dragon is vanquished in the Lake of Fire (Rev 20:14-15).

That is the dragon's certain end.

Until that time, we are called not to despair, but to fight. Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina continues its battle, and the Benedictines need us to be Saint George.

Charles Donovan and Robert Moffit have written eloquently about the situation, with which you may already be familiar. In sum, President Obama's Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has rendered a determination that Belmont Abbey discriminates against gender because the College's employee health plan finances no oral contraceptives.

The University of Dallas Knights of Columbus (KofC) Council #14872 has unsheathed Saint George's sword against the dragon and has penned the following petition letter, which I urge you to download and have your Parish, KofC, and other concerned Catholic group members sign and send to the EEOC, as well as to your Congressman and Senators:

U. S. Equal Employment Opportunity Trade Commission
129 West Trade Street, Suite 400
Charlotte, NC 28202
(704) 344-6686

To the Chair of the EEOC, Mr. Stuart Ishimaru and the District Office Director of Charlotte North Carolina, Mr. Reuben Daniels, Jr.:

We as Catholics would like first to thank the Commission for its constant drive to rid American workplaces of discrimination, especially as the Commission has supported the ability of health care providers to practice only within their conscience. We fully support your efforts because “we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, and among these are the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” (Declaration of Independence). Similarly in Catholic teaching we say that “all men are equal in natural dignity” (Pacem in Terris, 44) and therefore deserve equal opportunities for employment.

Further, as it pertains to sexual discrimination, we would like to express our highest respect for all women, especially as they pursue their “natural dignity” and as they demand “the rights and duties which belong to them as human persons” (Pacem, 41). Our late Pope John Paul II in his “Letter to Women” said that

[a]s far as personal rights are concerned, there is an urgent need to achieve real equality in every area: equal pay for equal work, protection for working mothers, fairness in career advancements, equality of spouses with regard to family rights and the recognition of everything that is part of the rights and duties of citizens in a democratic State. (4)

We do not believe that women should play a “purely passive role or...be regarded as a kind of instrument” (Pacem, 41), but instead that we should treat all women with the same “openness, respect, acceptance and tenderness” of Jesus Christ (Letter to Women, 3).

Therefore, when Belmont Abbey College was accused of sexual discrimination, much of the Catholic community was shocked because the college has been known to be faithful to Catholic theology and moral actions. We then investigated the nature of the charges and were dismayed that the charges were brought not in a true instance of sexual discrimination, but in an unfortunately misguided pursuance of the duty of the EEOC.

The problem is specifically invoked where the document states that “by denying prescription contraceptive drugs, Respondent is discriminating based on gender because only females take oral prescription contraceptives. By denying coverage, men are not affected, only women.”

It is useful to note that Belmont Abbey College removed a number of things from their health plan including oral prescription contraceptives, abortion, and both male and female voluntary sterilizations. These methods of contraception (and in the case of abortion, of ending life) were removed because the Catholic Church prohibits any forms of artificially preventing (or terminating) pregnancy. The Catechism, which is definitive teaching on our faith, states that:

"every action which, whether in anticipation of the conjugal act, or in its accomplishment, or in the development of its natural consequences, proposes, whether as an end or as a means, to render procreation impossible" is intrinsically evil. (Humanae Vitae 14 as quoted in CCC 2370)

Because artificial contraception is such an evil, when Belmont Abbey College ascertained that its health plan included forms of contraception including sterilization and oral contraception, the College promptly removed such from the plan. The College ended its participation in an intrinsically evil act which included a drug accessible by women alone.

Although only women take oral contraceptives, merely removing the drug from coverage is not discrimination. Belmont Abbey College made a decision that, regardless of sex, contraception would not be provided for. The College is not to blame for scientists’ present inability to provide men with an oral contraceptive. If and when male oral contraceptives are developed, they will also be excluded from Belmont Abbey College’s health plan because, once again, the College’s provisions against contraception are not based on sex, but that providing such is participating in evil.

The College does not allow contraception for either sex, as they are available to each. Men are not able to have a vasectomy paid for. Applying the same logic as your “Determination” to Belmont Abbey College, such a ban on vasectomies is sexual discrimination because “[wo]men are not affected”. This is obviously not the case because only men are physically able to have a vasectomy. However, this same obvious understanding applies to female oral contraception: it physically impacts only women, but subsequently removing such a provision does not constitute sexual discrimination. Both men and women are denied access to contraceptives; thereby, neither women nor men will be supported by the Catholic college in what is evil.

We site legal precedent for this stance in Union Pacific R.R. Employment Practices Litigation, 479 F. 3d 936 (8th Cir. 2007):

Union Pacific's health plans do not cover any contraception used by women such as birth control, sponges, diaphragms, intrauterine devices or tubal ligations or any contraception used by men such as condoms and vasectomies. Therefore, the coverage provided to women is not less favorable than that provided to [*945] men. Thus, there is no violation of Title VII .

Similarly, Belmont Abbey College provides no contraceptives to anyone, regardless of sex, thus the coverage is no less favorable to women than men and thereby incurs no charge of sexual discrimination.

As Catholics, we steadfastly support those who are prosecuted as they faithfully uphold the Truth. Belmont Abbey College, in accordance with the Truth, has ceased to unwittingly support the intrinsic evil of contraception. Belmont Abbey College does so without regard to sex, equally removing all potential funding for contraception whether for males alone (ex. vasectomy) or females alone (ex. oral contraception). Therefore, we urge you to you reverse your determination. Again we thank you for working to end work place discrimination, but we also humbly submit that, in this rendering, you have erred. We eagerly await your reply in the hopes that you recognize our desire to avoid evil and pursue the Good.

 Yours in Christ,

 Faithful Catholics

The simple site will enable you to download a PDF version of the letter, ready for signing. The letter contains the EEOC address. Please, download this letter. As you paste the stamp on the envelope or send it in an email to the EEOC, lift up your Rosary and Divine Mercy Chaplet. Sing the Song of Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael in the Furnace of Nebuchadnezzar (Dan 3:51-90, DRE), may you hear the hooves of Saint George's steed galloping.

Yes, today, the late Honorable Henry Hyde's protective amendment has been sheathed.

But our swords have not. Ride on, prayer warriors.

When the time comes, as it surely will, when we face that awesome moment, the final judgment, I’ve often though, as Fulton Sheen wrote, that it is a terrible moment of loneliness.  You have no advocates, you are there alone standing before God – and a terror will rip your soul like nothing you can imagine.  But I really think that those in the pro-life movement will not be alone.  I think there’ll be a chorus of voices that have never been heard in this world but are heard beautifully and clearly in the next world – and they will plead for everyone who has been in this movement.  They will say to God,“Spare him, because he loved us!” —Congressman Henry Hyde