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Birth control mandate is about health care for women

I would like to point out a misperception in the Feb. 12 letter, "Why pay for someone's choice?" (Your Views). The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services mandate requires insurance companies to offer contraceptive coverage at no additional cost to the employer purchasing the insurance plan. The employee would still have to pay for the contraceptives at the price negotiated by the insurer.

The cost of birth control pills easily can be over $100 per month for women without insurance to as little as free to $5 for those with insurance. Oral contraceptives are used to treat a number of medical issues as well, such as endometriosis, which can lead to a woman being unable to conceive, and painful cramping and heavy menses, among other conditions. The use of birth control pills to prevent unplanned pregnancies also leads to fewer pregnancies being terminated by abortion.

The political right has been trying to make this issue into an attack on religious freedoms by President Barack Obama when it is clearly nothing of the sort. It is a way to provide equal access to health care for women working for religious institutions.

David Roesler


Insurance should be fair

Anne Lawinger asks why insurance companies must pay for someone who chooses to use birth control and implies that it is ultimately a burden on the rest of the insured to do so ("Why pay for someone's choice?" Your Views, Feb. 11).

Isn't having a child a choice? Then why do I have to pay for people's hospital bills when they decide to have one, two or more children? I will ultimately pay for all their vaccinations and sicknesses as well.

Why not limit the number of births covered by insurance? People who decide not to procreate should have the same insurance coverage for contraception as those who decide to procreate and expect insurance to pay for their hospital bills.

Insurance companies are not against this rule because they know that in the long run it will be less expensive than the cost of prenatal care, childbirth and the care of children after birth, thus holding down insurance costs. The cost of childbirth alone can provide one woman's contraception for years. As an added benefit, it will save the taxpayers money not to have to provide for unwanted children.

Roberta Wallace


Bad choice on ethanol

Bob Sather made an interesting comment in his plea for the E15 ethanol blend ("Sensenbrenner's position isn't best for Wisconsin," Another View, Feb. 10). Speaking for the Wisconsin Bio Industry Alliance, Sather said his group did not understand why anyone would "not support the concept of choice at the pump." And on that we can all agree.

But I suggest that Sather take a trip down to just about any Milwaukee-area gas station and note the "choice" of not buying ethanol-laced gasoline. The "choice" is virtually nonexistent in Wisconsin, and this is due mostly to the lobbying of groups in the ethanol industry. This has resulted in a taxpayer-supported subsidy for ethanol and has forced consumers to inject corn products into their vehicles' fuel systems.

Being champions of "choice," maybe Sather and the Wisconsin Bio Industry Alliance should be fighting for giving consumers the option of buying normal, non-ethanol gasoline. Instead, they advocate using tax dollars to subsidize a fuel that costs more while giving less gas mileage and possibly damaging engines. Bad choice.

Ed Creamean Sr.


Take ethanol blend below 10%

Yes, more testing is required to make any change to the ethanol blend question ("More analysis on ethanol could provide answers," Our View, Feb. 10).

In fact, the government should be looking at possibly reducing the blend to below 10%. The ethanol blend should never be 15%; it should be going down to below the current 10%. Using 10% ethanol in gasoline reduces mileage in cars by 2%. We are trying to increase mileage in cars, not trying to decrease it.

Producing ethanol from corn uses lots of natural gas and a lot of water. The water needed is about 10 gallons of water per gallon of ethanol. Almost all the water is evaporated in the process. This may be one of the reasons that the water tables in Wisconsin are going down - millions of gallons are lost every day due to the making of ethanol.

All the corn to produce ethanol has caused food prices to go up all over the world.

Alan Carlson


Great analysis on CAPCO

I would like to thank the Journal Sentinel for its excellent analysis of the great CAPCO swindle, which offers an excellent example of how badly the public gets burned when the Legislature lets private corporations write our laws ("State spends million for 202 new jobs," Feb. 12).

It is especially gratifying to see that legislators who supported the CAPCO program in 1999 now acknowledge their mistake.

Will those legislators now learn from that mistake? The Assembly has just passed a mining deregulation bill that was written in behind-closed-doors meetings with representatives of a mining company. We've been down this road before.

I urge the Senate to block this new attempt to place private profits ahead of the public good.

Rob Harper
Stevens Point


Hold church accountable

Fight the fight that needs fighting. The Catholic Church needs to be legally accountable for harboring pedophiles without settlements. Big organization, big money is winning out here, and victims are being further victimized. Any individual charged with the crime of pedophilia must be prosecuted and, if guilty, imprisoned for the full extent of their lives.

It is going on in Milwaukee right now. The Milwaukee Catholic Archdiocese is filing for bankruptcy "due to the burden of paying out settlements." Judges are swiftly addressing any claims toward settlement money due to the filing of bankruptcy. Further, the judge is swiftly going through each case and throwing out those complaints that go beyond the statute of limitations and those that are not "viable" ("Church says clock ran out," Feb. 9).

Fight the fights that need fighting.

Annette Clark

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