Dear Editor,

This country is founded on ideas of religious tolerance and freedom, as well as a separation of church and state. In recent years, however, it seems like the line between religion and politics has become increasingly blurred, an especially troubling issue in the area of reproductive rights.

Earlier this year, the Department of Health and Human Services passed a decision that requires insurance plans to provide birth control without co-pay. Conservative Republicans, backed by the Catholic Church, have been fighting this decision ever since. They are currently pressuring Obama to expand the already-existing exemption clause in the Affordable Care Act to allow religiously affiliated universities, hospitals, and other organizations the right to deny coverage for contraceptives.

How does this affect me and you? Wash. U. isn’t religiously affiliated, but think about all of the organizations, including potential employers and graduate schools, which have religious ties. They would be able to deny birth control coverage to all employees and students, no matter their religious convictions.

Although the official stance of the Catholic Church is against the use of contraceptives, the reality is that women of all faiths greatly benefit from birth control’s availability; 99% of sexually active women in the US have used birth control at some point in their lives, including 98% of sexually active Catholic women.

Denying women access to such an important preventive health measure doesn’t make sense (especially when you consider the church’s stance on abortion). If Barack Obama allows this exemption to pass, it would hit uninsured and underinsured women the hardest. Women should benefit from this new health care reform law regardless of where they work or go to school.

Abby Traub
Class of 2013