Today, a couple hundred people gathered outside the Lucas County Courthouse in Toledo, Ohio, to demonstrate about religious freedom and healthcare in America. Most of the crowd was organized by the effort to repeal President Barack Obama’s so-called Obama care, and specifically, the requirements surrounding religious institution employers providing birth control related services as part of any health insurance that they offer to their employees. This was one of many protests around the country organized by two Catholic pro-life groups. Nonetheless, there were dozens of people with alternative messages. Perhaps the most provocative, was a couple of bastards from Occupy Toledo, pictured below:
In my opinion, freedom is largely meaningless, unless it is in the context of how that freedom is used and what effect this has on other people. In the end, if these demonstrators get their way, there will only be more bastards in this country. In Ohio, close to half of pregnancies occur out-of-wedlock, and over a third of pregnancies, whether in wedlock or out-of-wedlock, are unintended. The United States already has the highest rate of unintended pregnancies in the so-called free world. I believe that family planning, the ability to plan the size of one’s family, is a basic human right that should be honored, particularly by religious folks.
Several people approached me stating quite emphatically that they were not against birth control. Ironically, all of these were members of the Roman Catholic Church. Typically, the distinction they were trying to make was that this rally was not about birth control but about forcing certain people, particularly religious people, paying for something they do not want. I am intrigued by pro-lifers getting all their panties in a bunch over this issue while our governments have used federal and state tax dollars to execute people, including those who are mentally retarded, and to wage wars pretty much nonstop in our lifetimes. No one seemed to have seriously considered resisting paying federal or state income taxes as a matter of conscience related to these issues. To me it always seems that is more meaningful to ask pro-lifers whose life they are most concerned about, not whether they want to protect life and liberty in some abstract way. I will work and pray for the day when there are no unwanted children, no executions or torture, and no war. Let’s make it so!
Oh yeah, special thanks to Toledo Jobs with Justice for making a show in support of health care for all!
