http://thefilmarchive.org/ February 2, 2012 More Democratic politicians favor these mandates than Republican politicians.[13] Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi favor the Obama policy.[7] Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) said that Americans are divided on this issue: "While some Americans may not feel that forcing them to pay for contraception are an infringement on their religious beliefs, others consider it to be an assault against their freedom of conscience."[14] The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops says that contraception is not basic health care but "an elective intervention that stops the healthy functioning of healthy women's reproductive systems",[15] unlike treating infertility, which is a medical disorder. Some people see the matter as primarily one of women's health, such as the National Women's Law Center.[16] Others see it as a matter of religious freedom. A senior fellow at the Cato Institute wrote: What makes the contraception (as well as sterilization and abortifacient) mandate especially ominous is the direct assault on basic religious beliefs.[17] . Certain consumers of mandatory health insurance, such as students matriculated at colleges of further education, have criticized what they perceive to be discrimination in provision or in practice: employer-provided plans that cover University faculty and staff may be subject to legal mandates whereas plans that cover the student body may not. Sandra Fluke was invited to present oral arguments on behalf of certain female student consumers dissatisfied with restrictions attached to registration for undergraduate and graduate attendance at Georgetown University School of Law. No contraceptive mandate applies to private parties entering into an association for commercial gain. Students are only required to purchase the University's plan if thay are not covered elsewhere, for example under a family members' (parents, spouse) plan. or are able to demonstrate their ability to self-insure at equivalent policy limits for certain levels of medical care. Fr. James V. Schall, professor at Georgetown's Department of Government, addressed a much broader framing. Constitutional questions of liberty of citizens from oppressive government interference, grounded in natural law arguments of Aquinas based on the classical metaphysics of Aristotle.[18] The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee says, "House Republicans have launched an all-out war on women since taking the Speaker's gavel over a year ago",[19] referring to the "hearing on women's health with five men and no women" (February 2012) Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) said Republicans "want to take us back to the Dark Ages ... when women were property."[20] Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) said Mitt Romney would "allow big corporations to deny health care options to their female employees."[21] Brent Bozell said that supporters of contraceptive mandates "have defined anyone who would oppose this mandate as waging" a war against women.[22] Ted Cruz called the issue "a battle at the heart of a wider war on religious liberty".[23] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contraceptive_mandate

• published: 10 Feb 2014