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Fudging the figures on contraception

February 22nd, 2012

by Michael Cook

The White House says 98% of Catholic women have used contraceptives. Its own statistics do not support this.

Politically speaking, President Obama is in a very strong position as he tries to force universal coverage for contraception, including sterilisation and the morning-after pill, upon employers. So why does his Administration have to tell porkies to bolster his case?

Porky 1: it’s the fault of the guys in robes and funny hats

Let’s start with the narrative most widely retailed in the media: that Obama’s opponent is the nation’s Catholic bishops. Nope. It is true that the Catholic bishops are adamantly opposed. Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan, president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, has been savage in his criticism:

“Never before has the federal government forced individuals and organizations to go out into the marketplace and buy a product that violates their conscience. This shouldn’t happen in a land where free exercise of religion ranks first in the Bill of Rights.”

But opposition is not coming only from Catholics. By no means. Take Pastor Rick Warren. This is the evangelical minister whom the media called “Obama’s favourite fundamentalist”. The President asked him to give the invocation at his inauguration in 2009. He may be the best known evangelical in the US.

Warren is fiercely opposed to Obama’s policy. This was his tweet on February 7: “I’m not a Catholic but I stand in 100% solidarity with my brothers & sisters to practice their belief against govt pressure.” And he followed it up with another “I’d go to jail rather than cave in to a government mandate that violates what God commands us to do. Would you? Acts 5:29.”

And R. Albert Mohler, Jr., the President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, a leading evangelical thinker, is behind the bishops on this issue, despite deep theological differences with Catholics:

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