WHERE ARE THE WOMEN AGAINST CONTRACEPTIVES?

The whole argument against some religious faiths rebelling against paying for contraceptives has been, to the best of my knowledge, men. Where are the women against contraceptives being covered in health insurance plans? Even Sarah Palin is for pre-conception contraceptives (http://glassbooth.org/explore/index/sarah-palin/21/abortion-and-birth-control/16/). Better yet, where are the Roman Catholic women against them? I have heard , even from a Catholic Bishop, that 97-98% of Catholic women have used contraceptives at some point in their life (but he felt that made no difference). Rick Santorum says it is not a matter of contraceptives (though he is against them*), but of religious Freedom and economics. Whose freedom is he talking about: the freedom of the Bishops and the Roman Catholic hierarchy or the freedom of women to control their own health.

As to economics, the expenses of pregnancy and child birth are more expensive than the cost of contraceptives and insurance companies will actually save money (by as much as 15%, a figure claimed by some to be too high). No rule says that the Bishops must advocate contraceptives, and no rule says that anyone (nearly all women) must use them. There are many things in my health insurance policy that I have not used (There are those who have been unkind enough to say I should have my head examined.). And even in the original edict by HHS, people working in churches and seminaries and other religious organizations may not be covered by contraceptives. So should non-Catholic women or even Catholic women working in a Catholic hospital be denied contraceptive coverage whereas if they worked in a private hospital or, say, Presbyterian hospital they would be? I think not.

The greater availability of contraceptives has also been credited with the lowering of teenage pregnancy and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).**

* http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2011/12/tthe-republican-primaries.html and particularly the reference to http://www.ricksantorum.com/pressrelease/senator-santorum-launches-“faith-family-and-freedom-tour” ("Repeal Obamacare mandate for contraceptive services in healthcare plans").

**http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/3324401.html