GOP fails to invite women to birth control hearing
A panel spoke at last Thursday’s Congressional hearing to discuss President Barack Obama’s proposed birth control policy requiring employers to provide contraceptives to their workers without a co-pay. Controversy arose surrounding the fact that religiously affiliated employers would not be exempt from the law, despite the fact that many religions denounce the use of birth control. Members of Thursday’s panel were “experts” on the topic, chosen by House Rep. Darrel Issa to act as representatives of five different religious sects that have vested interest in the issue of contraceptives.
The arguments made against Obama’s plan are logical and structurally sound. Its dissenters believe that a compulsory contraception law would violate the separation of church and state as well as the religious freedoms of employers who do not condone the use of birth control.
The public outcry created by the hearing was not over the fact that religious sects were protesting Obama’s new policy. It was over the fact that the panel on Thursday assembled to discuss a law that would affect women’s rights, all of the representatives were men.
Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-NY, was one of three people who refused to stay for the entirety of the hearing, walking out to protest the lack of female representation. Before leaving, Maloney asked Issa the question on the minds of many upset by the panel: “Where are the women?”
Women were not present at the hearing because they were not invited. In fact, House Democrats had tried to talk Republicans into allowing a woman to speak on Thursday, but were unsuccessful. Issa rejected their choice on the grounds that the Georgetown University law student had “become energized over this issue” and that she was “not appropriate or qualified.”
House Democrats consequentially held an unofficial hearing shortly after Thursday’s panel to give their female representative an opportunity to testify in favor of Obama’s policy. However, the GOP-controlled Committee on House Administration persuaded the recording studio to block the hearing from being broadcast on TV.
The lack of female representation on Issa’s panel can be explained by the fact that the ordination of women is rare in most religions, including those represented on Thursday. Issa also reportedly said that “the hearing [was] not about reproductive rights and contraception but instead about ... freedom of religion and conscience,” and that the Democratic representative was not well versed in religion and could not provide legitimate testimony.
In that case, Issa should have found a way to include women in the process. He could have allowed women to testify as non-experts, or invited an unordained female religious expert to speak or simply saw to it that the Democratic hearing be broadcast.
Excluding women altogether from the hearing was an insulting and, as said by Democratic spokesperson Drew Hammill, “leaves us only to think that the House Republican leadership is acting out yet again to silence women on the topic of women’s health.”
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