Today, for a brief moment, we can take time to celebrate a victory in womens health. Because today, most private insurance companies in the United States will begin to cover all FDA-approved forms of contraception, free of co-pays. This is a BIG step forward.
Offering women contraception without co-pays under the Affordable Care Act isn't just good for them -- it's good for their families, communities and the planet we all share.
Beginning this month, for the first time in the history of this country, access to no-copay birth control will be a reality for millions of young people across the country. To underscore this moment – or fail to maximize its transformative potential – would be a grave mistake.
By working with the Catholic Church in order to craft the contraception mandate in such a way that the Catholic Church would not bitch about it, the Obama Administration may have shot itself in the foot, because guess what? The Catholic Church is bitching about it.
If we are fighting HIV, we need to join hands no matter whether we are straight, gay, sex workers, whatever…but with no discrimination. This is high time we tell the US government they should respect all human rights – whether you are a sex worker, straight, gay, disabled. We are all equal.
The definition of criminal offenses, the selective implementation of the law, and the resulting stereotypes generate a self-enforcing loop of discrimination and exclusion to the detriment of all. The exclusion of so many legitimate voices from this year’s AIDS conference is just one example.
A federal judge in Colorado shows he's open to the argument that employers should be able to dock your insurance benefits because they oppose contraception. If conservatives successfully open this door, expect more attacks on workers' religious freedom.
