We now know what Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan considers to be the single most important issue of this campaign. One might think it would be, oh, maybe jobs. How about something else of importance, like getting the troops out of Afghanistan safely, or global warming's threat to change the entire planet, the ability to grow crops, i.e., food. How about that?
One might think it would be something of importance like that, but no, what Paul Ryan vows will be gone "on day 1" is... the contraception mandate included in the Affordable Care Act. Speaking to an audience at the University of Central Florida, Ryan "guaranteed" that the provision of the Act, which requires insurance companies to include coverage for contraception in their plans, would be gone.
So let's get this straight. Paul Ryan, a Catholic, has decided that women of any religion (or no religion at all), whether they work for a Catholic institution and/or are Catholic themselves, should not have birth control (which can run upwards of $100 or more a month), covered by their insurance plan. Why? Because the Pope says birth control is a sin, even though the Bible says no such thing. So this means if you work for a Catholic institution you have to abide by the Pope's rules, if you're a Baptist, a Methodist, or an atheist. So much for respecting other people's beliefs.
Insurance companies are more than happy to cover birth control in their plans, because covering that cost is much cheaper than covering a pregnancy. The New York Times spells it all out here.
I notice that no male Republican has had anything to say about having insurance companies stop covering vasectomies or Viagra, either. This is all about their effort to subjugate women by controlling what happens to their bodies.
So, Paul Ryan, if you're so concerned about what birth control women are using, it's only fair that you let us in on what you and your wife are doing to prevent pregnancy. She hasn't had a baby a year, Duggar-style, so how about you let us know what birth control you're using, hmmmm? How often are you having sex? Are you using the rhythm method? Or are you only interested once every couple of years or so? Why don't you let us in on this information if you're so concerned about what's happening in our bedrooms that you think it's important for you to take control of it on Day 1, at the expense of everything else that's going on in the country?
The Republicans' attempts to legislate their extreme religious views and continue their assault on women's rights has got to stop. We do not live in a theocracy. We live in a democracy where a woman's right to choose what happens to her body is guaranteed by the Constitution. Period. The best way to get this across to these Cretins is to vote them out of office, and never allow them back in.
