More than 2,000 women signed an open letter opposing the Obama administration’s contraception mandate in a sharp contrast to those who have sought to represent all women in supporting it.
“Don’t claim to speak for all women,” the Feb. 17 letter tells President Barack Obama, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and members of Congress.
Women from a wide span of political, religious and educational backgrounds joined together to back Catholic organizations protesting a new federal mandate that will require employers to provide health-insurance plans that cover contraception, sterilization and abortion-inducing drugs.
Organizers said the letter has received about 2,300 signatures in less than a week.
The signatories include women from a variety of professions, including doctors, teachers, lawyers, mothers, business owners and community volunteers.
Although the signatories are not all Catholic, they all proclaimed that they are “proud to stand with the Catholic Church and its rich, life-affirming teachings on sex, marriage and family life.”
Many have worked for Catholic schools, hospitals and social-service organizations at some point and “are proud to have been part of the religious mission” of those institutions.
They noted “the shared sense of purpose” with which employees performed their service for the community and observed that “in a religious institution, a job is always also a vocation.”
The letter was initiated by Helen Alvaré, associate professor of law at George Mason University School of Law, and Kim Daniels, former counsel to the Thomas More Law Center, where she focused on health-care-related conscience rights.
It was written as a response to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and other supporters of the mandate who have repeatedly suggested that few if any women in the U.S. oppose it.
“We listened to prominent women purport to speak for us,” said Alvaré and Daniels in a Feb. 21 National Review Online article explaining the letter.
“We watched them duck the fundamental religious-liberty issues at stake,” they added. “And we saw them assume that all women view cheaper contraceptives and abortion-causing drugs as unqualified goods.”
Alvaré and Daniels circulated their letter of protest to a few dozen friends. Within days, it had spread to thousands of women who were eager to make their voices heard.
“Almost every email contained a letter expressing the woman’s enormous relief at the chance to speak for herself,” said Alvaré, who also serves as the chair of the Witherspoon Task Force on Conscience Protection and a consultant to the Pontifical Council for the Laity.
She said that it was “moving” to read the emails expressing “gratitude for the Catholic Church’s willingness to stand down the government’s claim to speak for all women and women’s health.”
Notable signers of the letter include Janet Smith, professor of ethics at Sacred Heart Minor Seminary in Michigan; Angela Pfister, associate director of the Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture; and Joan Desmond, writer and senior editor for the National Catholic Register.
The signatories called it “more than a little mistaken, and more than a little dishonest” to try to silence those who disagree with the mandate by invoking “women’s health.”
They noted the serious side effects of many contraceptives, as well as the killing of embryos and the fact that government contraceptive programs have led to “more empty sex, more non-marital births and more abortions.”
“It is women who suffer disproportionately when these things happen,” they explained.
“No one speaks for all women on these issues,” the signatories said. “Those who purport to do so are simply attempting to deflect attention from the serious religious liberty issues currently at stake.”
The women called on the administration “to allow religious institutions and individuals to continue to witness to their faiths in all their fullness.”
Matthew Warner: Thank God for the HHS Mandate
Dan Burke: A Novena to the Mother of God for the United States
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2,300? That is just the tip of the iceburg for sure. I never saw such a letter.
president obama: i was a catholic democrat who supported you, wrote letters to the editor promoting your healthcare legislation because i trusted you. betrayed doesn’t even begin to describe my feelings.
I’m a woman and I want to sign the petition. Where do I go to sign up?
As christians we need to support freedom in the next election. Pray support and vote for God fearing candidates come November. Let’s end this culture of death.
Only 2000? Will that impress anyone?
I am not a notable person. But perhaps I could be an example of one who is not notable but who is sickened by the mandate. I suppose the administration and its supporters are counting on appealing to the great unwashed American women for votes. Well, it would be a mistake to judge such to be without thoughts on the subject or to be in silent agreement with more successful and obviously louder women. We may not be as easily minipulated or as few in number as they guess. Congratulations to Helen Alvare and Kim Daniels. They show the kind of leadership I’d vote for. And, I might not be atypical of the plain-American-woman teeming with resentment at this obnoxious mandate. Anita
Where may I sign this letter?
Where is the IMPEACH OBAMA movement?
I want to sign the peptition. Open this up to all women to add their names
This letter is an answer to prayer. As an Italian American practicing Catholic male, I have been eagerly awaiting such a letter. I was sure it was forthcoming. I know too many spirit filled women who oppose the government mandate and see it for what it really is…an assault on religious freedom…period…!!! Thanks…!!!
YES! More women need to speak up for WOMEN. We have all these bitter, angry, not so womanly women setting the rules for us.
Pelosi and company think that they are infallible and the voice of women. They argue that many catholics practice planning and so why the Church opposes the Obamacare. They should understand one thing we all commit mistakes or sins. But arguing that our mistakes and sins must be accepted as the rule shows lack of principles. Simply because one has stolen once , he/she cannot plead that stealing is lawful. The Church has wisdom and experinece and over all above the Holy Spirit. Let sinners repent and get welcomed by God instead of asking God to make sins lawful
MEMORARE for RICK SANTORUM Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession, was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother. To thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful, O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me. Amen.
Here you go: Visit womenspeakforthemselves.com to sign the letter yourself!
Count me in….I want to sign this letter.
Let me know how to sign the letter to oppose the HHS Mandate
I want to be involved in defeating the HHS mandate which I consider a blatant violation of religious liberty. Please let me know how I may help.
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