New York State's Highest Court Court rules: Catholic Church must cover contraceptives

EITB Basque News ^ | October 22, 2006

[razorback-bert]

75% of the funds spent by Catholic Charities are derived from tax dollars

Is this true and if so why are private charities taking public money?

[Alberta's Child]

I bet the same court would support a restriction on the Catholic Charities getting state money to help with a social program because they ARE a religious organization.

Actually, the opposite is true. Catholic Charities gets something like 70% (or more) of its revenue through taxpayer-funded programs. This, in fact, was one of the criteria the California court used when it determined that Catholic Charities is not a religious organization.

[Conservativegreatgrandma]

So much for "freedom" in the US. We're getting less and less every day.

[Alberta's Child]

Those are excellent points, but they should have been raised long before a case like this was ever brought.

This is bound to be an issue any time you have an industry regulated by a government (regardless of what level of government is involved). That holds true whether you're dealing with the insurance industry, professional engineers, accountants, real estate, the medical profession, etc.

[Mrs. Don-o]

And why contraception? The medical products and services I require (but am denied coverage for on my unsurance) are aimed toward restoring the function of weakened or diseased systems. Contraceptives are used to obstruct or destroy the function of normal, healthy systems. Just from the point of view of medical ethics, one would think that restoring healthy function would have priority over impeding healthy function.

[xkaydet65]

Because they are performing tasks that government chooses not to perform, but still pays for. things like adoption services, teenage group homes,facilities for crack babies. the list is endless. Private charities have been spending public monies as well as there own for some time now. For the state the upside is that the work is usually performed with more care and compassion by people who choose to work for Catholic or other charities than by the usual civil servant, competent or otherwise. As someone who taught 13 uears in Catholic schools and 20 in NYC public schools I can say that the teachers in Catholic schools were not more skilled, but far more committed. This is something my public school colleagues cannot ever believe,