living in a crafty world — glue-sticking together for reproductive rights

Today at the Supreme Court the ruckus was all about whether that nasty Obamacare tromps on the rights of corporations (non-humans) to deny preventive health-care, specifically in the form of drugs and devices that prevent pregnancy, to employees (humans) who happen to work there. A better solution would be to uncouple health insurance completely from employment and move to universal health-care coverage as many other countries have, and as the Affordable Care Act begins to do. Until then, here we are, where under the cover of religion, a “boss” can play doctor.

I happened to be with a “faith-based” group, singing liberation- and spiritual-type songs, and bearing signs suggesting that people — and corporations! — just mind their own business regarding the reproductive organs of others. We feel this way quite strongly, as a matter of intellectual conscience, which the Hobby Lobby craft store people must understand is at least as valid as strong feelings that come from the Bible, which does not mention IUDs at all, not even once.  As I walked past the long line of folks hoping to get inside to hear the opinion, two called out trying to shame me, but mostly the crowd gave the thumbs up and much more audible forms of support.

Here’s hope that Antonin Scalia will reread that thing he wrote about how it was ok to disallow use of peyote, because not every silly thing that people do can fall under the umbrella of protected religious behavior. People just gotta go with the program sometimes! Hunt down this story by searching with the words “Scalia” and “peyote,” and you will find many sources.

Links about today’s cases: http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014/03/19/3416214/religious-groups-birth-control-coverage/

I need health care for my aching brain — GOP edition

The gal selected by the Republican party to try to counteract the State of the Union speech, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of the other Washington — we here in D.C. don’t have a vote in Congress — either let someone slip her some text she had not read or just does not care about the relationship between words and reality. Bad, either way.

A couple hours ago, a whole sludgebucket of her co-partiers voted to “impose tax penalties on small businesses that choose insurance plans that cover abortion, permanently block abortion coverage for low-income women, civil servants, D.C. residents, and military women, and effectively ban abortion coverage in the new health system, even for women in state exchanges who pay for their insurance with their own, private funds.”*

Nevertheless, McMorris Rodgers, without wrinkling her brow or twitching or anything, was able to say on TV: “Republicans believe health care choices should be yours, not the government’s. And that whether you’re a boy with Down syndrome or a woman with breast cancer, you can find coverage and a doctor who will treat you.” [bolding by me]

* Message tonight from NARAL Pro-Choice America.