Planned Parenthood only wants you to have a choice when it matches its definition of what choice is. The most recent example is in this story where Planned Parenthood has called for a removal of a religious protection clause from a birth control bill in Florida.

Not only does Planned Parenthood think that all women should be given free birth control with no copays whatsoever, even though 1) Most forms of hormonal birth control are abortifacient and 2) almost everyone even with great health insurance has a copay for any normal medical visit or prescription.

The Florida Independent reports that the sponsor of a contraception bill introduced in Florida, state Sen. Nancy Detert, R-Venice, “remove an exemption in the bill for religious employers.”

While this bill actually does what Planned Parenthood demands and “protect a woman’s access to birth control in Florida, stopping any insurance provider from levying steep co-payments for contraception or creating waiting periods for services,” it also has a religious exemption (you know, since this is the United States which allows people to express and practice their religious beliefs freely and not infringe them with force from another). This is the same battle happening at the national level as religious employers fight for freedom to opt out of this aspect of federal health care.

Planned Parenthood doesn’t think religious freedom should be a factor if it stops their agenda and says:

 “SB 598 includes a refusal clause which allows ‘bona fide religious employers’ to exclude coverage of prescription contraceptive drugs and devices. While ‘bona fide religious employers’ is undefined, it could include churches, hospitals, universities, parochial schools, and some charity organizations.”

The story adds:

“Planned Parenthood urges Senator Deter to remove the refusal clause from SB 598 to ensure that all women have access to the health care they need,” the group’s press release says, “including affordable birth control, no matter where they work.”

However, what Planned parenthood neglects to acknowledge is that if “bona fide religious employers” are forced to do the same, then their religious beliefs are being disregarded in the name of governmental control, which, among many other concerns, is a violation of the very constitution on which our nation is built.

Planned Parenthood insist that “The reality is, one in three women voters (34 percent) have struggled with the cost of prescription birth control at some point in their lives,” said Selzer.  “It’s time to change that.”

I priced birth control to get an idea of what kind of cost was involved. On average, every birth control pill I found was between $30 for one month and as low as $45 for a full three month supply. That’s far less than a cable bill, folks. Since Planned Parenthood claims to need all that federal money to help poor women who can’t afford birth control, why are they trying to usurp people’s religious liberties instead?

I’m not a fan of any hormonal birth control simply because it can be an abortifacient, but I acknowledge it’s a legal. However, I do not think if I run a church or Catholic hospital or Christian school, I should be forced to cover a method of birth control that sometimes kills a baby. For the record, included in this demand would be any FDA approved contraceptive, which includes the Morning After Pill (which will kill a baby if a women is pregnant when she takes it) and Ella, which is chemical similar to RU-486, which is known as the abortion pill. Just because it’s marketed as birth control doesn’t mean it doesn’t kill a baby.

Planned Parenthood goes too far with its demands that religious exemptions not be allowed. By doing so it demands governmental control of a culture, and a removal of true choice by forcing religious institutions to violate their own consciences.