The Roman Catholic Church should not try to exploit its position as an employer to try to push its views against birth control on non-Catholics. They need to learn to respect the views of people whose outlooks on religion differ from that of the Catholic hierarchy. Another important issue at stake is women's rights. Denial of contraceptive benefits is an unfortunate kind of sex discrimination. Women face the consequence of pregnancy, which men do not, yet medical services to give them more control over their own bodies are often denied.
Contraceptive benefits are an important step towards real equality for women.
The need for the Roman Catholic Church to stop discriminating against non-Catholic employees in this area becomes increasingly clear as the RCC continues to merge Catholic hospitals with formerly secular ones. Often, not only do employees lose these important medical benefits, but non-Catholic patients often lose the ability to obtain contraceptive services at hospitals where such services previously were available. The efforts of the Roman Catholic hierarchy to impose its religious beliefs on non-Catholic employees is part of a broader problem. Some landlords are trying to impose their religious beliefs on tenants and prospective tenants, especially in regards to unmarried and same-sex couples. When such discriminatory behavior violates state laws, some landlords have tried to claim that renting to unmarried couples would violate the landlords' religious beliefs.