A claim has come before the nation's highest court complaining that insurance coverage for contraceptives contained in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) are an infringement of religious freedoms and, therefore, in violation of the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993.
The First Amendment prohibits Congress from passing legislation restricting the free exercise of religion and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act provides the Government shall not substantially burden a person's exercise of religion.
One wonders, because the Affordable Care Act provides coverage for contraceptive use and "morning after pills," how does this restrict the free exercise of religion? There is no clause in the ACA requiring mandatory use of contraceptives; hence, an individual is at liberty to ignore this provision of the insurance.
Because a certain religion prohibits the use of contraceptives and/or birth control measures, should all persons and all religions be prohibited from access to insurance coverage in this regard? Unfortunately, this issue cannot be boiled down to a simple answer.
The world has had to live with acid rain; we are told our rivers, streams and fresh water sources are becoming polluted from human waste, insecticides and agricultural fertilizers. Even the oceans are suffering from pollution, over fishing and poor management which will ultimately lead to extinction of food sources and the balance of nature. We are informed the ozone layer is disappearing; hence, a rise in world temperature and a melt-down of the ice pack which may explain the unusual and violent weather and on and on it goes.
It would appear that our world environment is being plundered and over-run by thoughtless creatures who are supposed to have superior intelligence. Based upon all the rhetoric concerning whether or not our insurance carrier "ought" to be required to cover contraceptives so as to prevent unwanted pregnancies, one might ask "is our planet running short of these two legged, upright homo-sapiens?" Moreover, if we allow indiscriminate use of these preventive devices, will humans become extinct?