ACLU of Kentucky

 Jamie Lucke

This Opinion Editorial was published in the February 15th 2012 edition of the Lexington Herald-Leader.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell's vow to prolong the flap over insurance coverage of contraceptives raises a couple of questions:

■ How many people will buy McConnell's warped notion of religious freedom?

■ How many will buy President Barack Obama's warped notion that insurance companies give anyone anything for "free?"

Listening to McConnell, you get the impression that religious freedom is the freedom of believers to impose their values on other people.

That's not religious freedom, that's Sharia law. People in this country are free to follow the dictates of their own consciences, until their consciences run them aground on civil laws. Nothing is more basic to our founding tradition or Constitution than that definition of religious freedom.

Suppose the bishops had decreed that employees of Catholic hospitals, universities and schools who use prescription contraceptives would be paid less than employees who don't use contraceptives? Obvious discrimination, right?

But, as ridiculous as docking the pay of employees who are on the pill would be, that's basically what the bishops are insisting upon, with the enthusiastic backing of McConnell and the GOP presidential field.

The law of the land for more than 30 years has been that employers who provide prescription drug coverage must include prescription contraceptives. Because only women use prescription contraceptives, denying this coverage is gender discrimination.

It's important to note nothing is forcing Catholic doctors or hospitals to prescribe or provide birth control. And employers whose primary purpose is religious, such as a church or mission, were already exempt for the same reason Amish drivers don't have to put bright orange triangles on their buggies. Oh, wait, the Amish go to jail if they don't put the triangles on their buggies.

 House Bills 133, 114, and Senate Bill 75 propose new legislation related to laws surrounding the use of the slow  moving vehicle emblem. Ordinung members of the Swartzentruber Amish in Graves County, have been jailed because, as ascribed by their relgious and sacred texts, they cannot display this graven symbol on the back of their motorless buggies.

These bills, currently in Transportation Committees in the House and Senate, provide an alternative to the slow moving emblem that may in fact be far safer than the current method of slow moving vehicle warning signs. Kentucky law states that slow moving vehicles (Tractors, Buggies, other motorless mechanical equipment) must display the orange triangular emblem on the  back of their trailors. The use of the bright neon color and faith in the triangle symbol violates modesty and religious code of the Swartzentruber Amish.

By:  Kate Fischer, ACLU of Kentucky intern

Senator Rand Paul is no novice when it comes to frequent flyer miles. But by some standards, he may now be an expert on the invasive TSA policies and procedures for screening passengers. In an interview with FOX news, Paul explained that “This morning I went through the screener, and the machine said there was a hot spot near my knee. So I showed them my knee and pulled my sock down and felt that would be sufficient. But they wanted to do a pat-down exam. I said I would walk back to the screener. They said no, you either get a pat-down or you don't fly."

Senator Paul was escorted to a cubicle where he made a cell phone call to his office informing them that he would miss his speaking engagement. TSA officials then told him that because he used his cellphone he would be getting a full pat-down.

This letter to the editor appeared in the October 31st edition of the Courier-Journal

On October 19^th, the Louisville Metro Board of Public Health held a panel discussion about the hospital merger, which gave University of Louisville Hospital, Jewish/St. Mary Hospital System and Catholic Health Care Initiatives a chance to answer the community’s questions.  It is commendable that these three merger partners gave the community a chance to answer questions; however this dialogue needed to start months ago and not after the deal is seemingly done. 

With that being said we did find out a few answers about what health care will be like under after the merger at the University of Louisville Hospital.  The first is that according to University Medical Center president James Taylor, the hospital is “doing just fine”.  In fact, a Business First article from July 2010, reported that the UMC posted a $15.3 million profit in 2009.  After the merger where will those profits go?  Will they go back to the University, for more care, or will those profits go back to CHI’s Denver headquarters?  Without access to the contracts, the public will never know.

We also learned that University of Louisville Hospital would no longer dispense birth control.  The panel said that would not dispense birth control prescriptions that are written at the hospital, but that women would be free to have the prescription filled at the pharmacy of their choice.  What they failed to state is that for most women, the pharmacy of choice would be the one at the University of Louisville Hospital.