\"Not Remotely The Issue\"

In this morning's Washington Post, Melinda Henneberger looks at the HHS conscience exemption decision. I was delighted to see that Henneberger was as appalled as I was at the way the President treated Sr. Carol Keehan in this matter, and that he could not bring himself to point out to his pro-choice allies that failure to expand the conscience exemption turns the entire Affordable Care Act into a more ripe target for judicial or political overturning.

But, Henneberger's key point comes with these sentences. Citing a blog post at the White House blog, and after picking apart its logic point-by-point, she writes: "Oh, and it says that 'contraception is used by most women,' including most Catholics. Again, true but not remotely the issue, which is the religious freedom guaranteed by the First Amendment." Brava!

Henneberger's column reminded me that I had so far failed to call attention to another column worth reading by my colleague Phyllis Zagano on this subject. Zagano also reiterates the point that the issue is not contraception but conscience and she adds the further point, that the ruling also mandates coverage for abortifacients, which are not contraception.