Legislation of Women Issues - Essay Example

?Legislation: Women Issues Viebeck s that America is one of the few countries where women have almost equal rights as men (6). Like most women around the world, American women have had to overcome many challenges to attain the level of equality they have today. The 18th and the 19th century American women faced all manners of oppression. They were expected to stay at home to nurture children and take care of homes. As such, they were not expected to be heard, but to be seen. This implied that men dominated over them in all matters in society. Most women around the world still face this form of oppression. However, American women have managed to overcome some of the challenges. This has been made possible through intense activism and advocacy for equality. In 1973, for instance, American women managed to convince the court in Roe vs. Wade that women should be given a right to decide what to do with their bodies in Roe vs. Wade case. American women have also managed to gain equality in employment, politics and many other areas that only men dominated. Today, most American women hold high-level positions, something that would not have been possible if women would not have advocated for equality. In politics, for instance, America has had women, such as Condoleezza Rice and Hilary Clinton hold the position of Secretary of State. This shows how far American women have come towards attainment of equality. However, this does not necessarily imply that all women issues have been solved in the country. Instead, American women have certain issues that they still need to be solved by the government. Some of the issues that American women want the government to solve include equal pay, reproductive rights, sexual harassments, and violations among others. Even though American women have continued to pressurize the government to solve these issues through legislation, the government appears not to have an interest. As such, American women have adopted the tactics of bringing up these issues in the run up for the general elections (Parker 3). American women believe that the political atmosphere provides a good opportunity to bargain with candidates seeking political office. Political analysts claim that American women often act as swing votes. Therefore, most candidates normally try to please them by promising to pass laws that solve some of the issues they raise during political campaigns. In fact, women used the run up to the 2012/2013 political campaign to advocate for the presage of legislations concerning some of the issues, which they wanted the incoming government to solve. Birth control is one of the issues that American women have been advocating for in recent times (Casserly 5). American women have been advocating for the enactment of a legislation that would compel employers to provide their female employees with birth control. In fact, American women used the birth control issue in deciding between Obama and Romney. In this regard, the women promised that they were only going to give their votes to the candidate that would push for the legislation of a birth control. This forced Obama to call for legislation of a birth control bill that would require all employers to provide their female employees with free birth controls as noted by Casserly (5). The Affordable Care Act, which had been signed into law in 2010, after its passage by the Congress, became operational starting August 1, 2012 (Fox 1). The ObamaCare birth control mandate came as a reprieve for millions of American women working for private employers. The ObamaCare birth control law requires private health insurance plans to begin providing free contraceptives and other birth control services to American women. This implies that American women no longer have to pay for birth control pills and other contraceptives, such as mammograms and Pay (Parker 3). In addition, even those having private insurance plans no longer have to co-pay for the birth control. American women have been so happy with the signing of the ObamaCare birth control since this law has helped reduce the burden of having to pay for contraceptives and other birth control services. In fact, following the signing of the ObamaCare birth control into law, American women now have the right to breast-feeding assistance free of charge. In addition, the law allows them to obtain free supplies for gestational diabetes that affect many American women during pregnancies. Domestic violence has also been a big issue in American society. However, America has never had a law that mandates screening of women for domestic violence. Nonetheless, following the passage of the ObamaCare birth control Act into law, American women now have the right to seek screening for domestic violence (Viebeck 6). As such, it is believed that the law will help reduce the rate of domestic violence in the country. This is certainly a reprieve for thousands of American women who have had to contend with domestic abuse for a long time. According to the president of March of Dimes Foundation, Dr. Jennifer Howse, the ObamaCare Act will help reduce birth defects will is responsible for the death of many American children at the time of giving birth (Parker 3). In fact, Jennifer argues that the ObamaCare act will ensure that America has healthy women to give birth to healthy children. This is attributable to the fact that the ObamaCare Act gives American women the opportunity to seek regular medical care free of charge. By receiving regular medical care, pregnant women will be able to receive crucial information regarding issues, such as cigarette and alcohol cessation, and nutrition. In addition, the ObamaCare Act also enables American pregnant women to seek free medical checkups that might help in detecting any dangerous conditions that might put the life of the mother or child at risk. Even though the government has not released the precise number of American women who will benefit from the new policy, Estimates indicate that millions of American women will take advantage of the policy. According to estimates from the US Health and Human Services Department, about 47 million American women will likely take advantage of the new policy (Viebeck 6). This is because these are the number of American women who have private health insurance. Obstacles that the new law have faced since its passing Even though Obama managed to mobilize enough number that allowed the Congress to pass the bill in 2010, its passage faced strong opposition from the Republican in Congress. Republicans opposed the ObamaCare Act claiming that it infringes on the religious freedom. As such, Republicans maintained during the 2012/2013 political campaign that they were going to repeal the entire law should the Republicans win the elections (Ferre 6). However, this position did not go well with American women who have been advocating for signing of the new policy into law. The ObamaCare law has also been met with strong opposition on ethical grounds. The resistance mainly came from the religious organizations, such as the Roman Catholics who are strongly opposed to the birth control law and sterilization. The Roman Catholics have maintained that the birth control law is an infringement to their religious freedom, which is protected by the constitution (Sager 1). The Roman Catholics believe that birth should not be controlled, since it increases immorality in the country. The opposition to the law got a boost when the Colorado federal judge ruled that a Catholic-owned heating and air conditioning firm in Denver had no obligation to give contraceptive coverage to its female employees (Weigel par. 3). The strong opposition from religious leaders and the Republican wing forced the Obama administration to take a compromising position by balancing the interest of American women with those of the religious organizations. This position has commonly been termed accommodation. Under this arrangement, women working for religiously affiliated companies will automatically receive contraceptive coverage through their insurance companies. The accommodation principle would be applicable to female workers in Catholic universities and hospitals throughout the country (Ferre 6). This implies that these religious employers will not be required to pay for the coverage. In addition, Churches, Mosques and other houses of worship are exempt from the ObamaCare mandate. The right and left wing view of the law The contraceptive mandate introduced by the Obama administration has been one of the most controversial issues in the recent past. The law has seen the left and right-wingers tackle different positions over the issue. On one hand, the left-wingers have been fully in support of the birth control law (Pear 2). They claim compelling private insuring companies to provide female workers with free contraceptives and other birth control services will help improve the health of American female workers, which, in turn, will result in giving birth to healthy babies. In addition, the left-wingers have maintained that providing free contraceptives will help reduce instances of unwanted pregnancies (Sager 1). This will help reduce abortion rates in the country. On the other hand, right-wingers have strongly opposed the ObamaCare law that mandate employers to provide birth control contraceptives to female workers claiming that it threatens the religion freedom of religiously-affiliated institutions. As such, the right wingers have maintained that, based on the ethical concerns linked to the new mandate, the religious stance should triumph over the employee right. In fact, two litigation cases over this issue have already been taken to the Supreme Court by the right-wingers. These include Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. v. Sebelius and Hobby Lobby Inc. v. Sebelius cases whose ruling are expected anytime in December 2013 or sometime in early 2014 (Parker 3). David Green, the CEO of Hobby Lobby is one of the right-wingers who have maintained that the new birth control law infringes on their religious conscience and believes, thus should be abolished. Based on the strong opposition from the religious organizations and Republicans in Congress, it is highly likely that the controversy is not about to end any time soon. The issue is likely to result in several litigations based on ethical issues related to the use of contraceptives as a birth control measure. The law is barely one year since it began working but a number of litigations are pending in the Supreme Court that awaits rulings, which may go either way (Bingham 6). At the same time, the birth control may be short-lived in any case the Republicans win the next general election in 2016/2017. This is because Republicans have maintained that the law threatens the religious freedom of religiously affiliated institutions in the country. Therefore, it is highly likely that that Republicans will repeal the law as soon as it comes to office in the future. As such, it is still too early for American women to start celebrating. Works Cited Bingham, Amy. Fact Checking Free Birth Control Day. ABC News, Aug. 1, 2012: 6. Print. Casserly, Meghan. Where Women Matter Most In Election 2012. Forbes, June 7, 2012: 5. Print. Ferre, Helen A. Contraceptives, and Obamacare: religious freedom in peril. Miami Herald, Dec. 9, 2013: 6. Print. Fox, Maggie. Free birth control under health law starts today. NBC News, Aug. 1, 2012: 1. Print. Parker, Star. Obamacare: Left-wing tyranny & licentiousness. WND Commentary, Nov. 29, 2013: 3. Print. Pear, Robert. Contraceptives Stay Covered in Health Law. The New York Times, June 28, 2013: 2. Print. Sager, Josh. Bill O’Reilly’s “War on Christmas” Rant and Birth Control. Versus News, December 4, 2013: 1. Print. Viebeck, Elise. Obama administration finalizes birth-control mandate in healthcare law. The Hill, June 28, 2013. Print. Weigel, David. “Obamacare's Birth Control Mandate Attacked by Judge Who Was Approved in 2005 "Nuclear Option" Deal.” 2013. Web. Dec.13, 2013 http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2013/11/01/obamacare_s_birth_control_mandate_attacked_by_judge_who_was_approved_in.html Read More