No co-pay for birth control?

No co-pay for contraception?

So it turns out that one of the provisions of Obama-care is  that it prohibits prohibits insurance co-pays for contraception.  I find this curious.

I always pay co-pays!

Having a child with diabetes, I have paid plenty of co-pays for products and medication necessary to his health.  And for visits to the pediatrician, surgeon, obstetrician, etc.

Many people have high co-pays for essential services, from cancer therapy to cholesterol medications and all the rest.

What’s the difference?

So why is contraception so sacred?  Why is it, in an era of falling revenues, in an age when western civilization is slowly depopulating, that we would encourage contraception?  When what we need, in fact, is (quite to the frustration of many) more people?

You can’t violate what’s sacred…at least what’s sacred now!

It’s probably an homage to some well-entrenched ‘sacred beliefs’ and trends.  First, the belief (the now orthodox doctrine of modern culture) that sex should never be tainted by the horrible risk of child-birth.  Second, that children are problems to be avoided not gifts to be sought.  Father of four, I could spend hours refuting that bit if clap-trap.  Third, that the world is suffering from an infestation of humans and that our numbers must be diminished to avoid tragic, earth-shattering over-population and global famine.  Of course, the prophets of over-population and global famine are consistently, time-after-time, dead wrong.  Fourth, the holy of holies:  the absolute belief by too many folks of child-bearing age that decreasing populations will decrease the threat of global climate change.  That negating their natural capacity and desire to find a mate and reproduce is somehow the right thing ‘for the earth.  Fifth, and finally, that money earned is better spent on a couple’s fun and future than on pesky children, who always cost more than they’re worth.

Really?

We need to think about this.  And ask why contraception rises to such a level that it should be exempt from the co-pay that others pay for the management of actual illnesses, not perceived social rights.  And why, of all things, we have come to honor childlessness above child-birth.

I’d love to hear the answers!