Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Drawing the Fine Line

"I felt like, as an individual Christian, who believes that God created life and only got has a right to terminate life, that I as an individual human being had to take action."

That is what one county commissioner said in an interview on one of our local news stations. He is one of six who voted Monday to adjust county employees' health insurance to no longer cover elective abortion. A county employee who decides to have an abortion will now have to pay for it out-of-pocket. This affects both female employees and the spouses of male employees. Only two voted against the change.

There are exemptions for cases of medical necessity, rape, or incest.
 
But the commissioner in question suggested this change not in the interest of saving money, or any other secular or political reason. He freely admits to it being about his personal beliefs.
 
Far be it from me to tell anyone what they should believe, or how they should worship. And most people I know are usually "live and let live" types. I am also not saying that I condone abortion out of hand as solely a form of "hail mary" birth control.
 
This is clearly a case of personal bias and religion being played out in a public forum. Where is the separation of church and state? There is an increasing amount of pressure coming from the religious "right" in this country, pushing their agenda of morality harder into the mainstream. This is another case of legislating the morality of the people.
 
And that is something our founding fathers were against.
 
Too many times people presume to know the thoughts of the founding fathers, and continue to try to legislate personal liberties away, instead of educating the public - and themeselves. A well-informed populace can decide for themselves, and people will choose a moral path in most cases. Making more laws only means more laws will be broken.
 
So what's next? How far will this go before someone stands up to say, "enough is enough"? It should be up to every individual to deal with their conscience and decide personal morality. And unless the choices they make directly impact the lives of other human beings, then allow people the freedom of choice.

2 comments:

  1. Wow.

    I am not a supporter of abortion rights, and I resent having my tax dollars fund abortions or even support organizations that provide them.

    That being said, if an employer who feels the same way doesn't want to pay for the procedure through the insurance coverage offered to his employees, I won't argue if he's footing the entire bill for their healthcare. If, however, the employees are paying a percentage of their insurance premium through payroll deduction (as most do), they should be given the option to maintain abortion coverage by paying a dollar or two extra on their insurance contribution.

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  2. It is my understanding it is a shared cost, and not sole cost from the county. I will have to look into it to be sure.

    thank you for the comment :)

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