Let’s be fair here

Listen to Dave’s Commentary: Let’s be fair here

Let’s try to be as fair as possible on this birth control issue.

About 15 years ago, when women noticed that insurers were covering Viagra, many of them said, ‘Hey, how about us?’

So the federal government, with bi-partisan support, mostly Democrats, but some Republicans too, imposed a rule requiring employers who cover preventive medicine to include birth control.

Churches themselves were exempt, and it was mostly uncontroversial.

Then along comes Obama’s health care reform, which eliminates deductibles and co-pays for preventive care. And he decides that should include birth control. So now the birth control has to be free. And to be fair, some churches have sincere objections to that.

At yesterday’s House hearing on the issue, one bishop compared it to forcing all food providers, including kosher delicatessens, to serve pork.

But the churches don’t have to serve the birth control, just let their insurers pay for it.

So to be fair, it’s more like a Jewish delicatessen paying its non-Jewish employees to buy their own pork for themselves, but even so, the Obama administration would never dare to mandate a pork benefit although, in fairness, we must acknowledge that…if pork was a contraceptive they very well might.

Finally, on the question of why there were no women testifying at that birth control hearing yesterday:

“Where are the women? Let one woman speak from the panel.”

To be fair, it must be because there were … there were no female witnesses available that day.

“She is hear in the audience today. She is steps away.”

And we’re out of time.