Court Contraception Controversy
Description
To combat unplanned pregnancy, Ministry of Health bureaucrats issued new contraception guidelines several months ago. In particular, Regulation @@NAMEINITIALS@@@@POPULATION_VALUE@@@@ANIMALINITIALS@@ sparked a firestorm: a mandate that employers pay for the costs of their employees' birth control. This morning, the Supreme Court stoked the flames. The justices ruled that the Ministry of Health must exempt businesses whose owners have religious objections to contraception. Angry workers have gathered to protest the decision.
Validity
Valid for every nation where the government has pro-contraception views (has picked option 68.3, 168.1, 200.1, 358.4, or 364.1); where the healthcare system has not been nationalized (see answers on issues #48, #117, #217, and #337); where Economic Freedom is moderate or low; and where religion (see option 333.3), private enterprise, and sexual intercourse are legal.
Options
[option]"This is ridiculous! I need those pills!" loudly whispers labor activist and mother of five @@RANDOMFEMALENAME@@ while bottle-feeding her youngest child. "Freedom of religion is not for businesses; it's for human beings. Business owners have no right to force their beliefs down their workers' throats." She snaps at her baby, "Now, drink up! Anyway, @@LEADER@@, what I do with my body is my concern, not my boss's. I plead with you to pass a new law overturning this horrible Supreme Court decision."
[effect]several major companies are closing down as their owners refuse to follow regulations that go against their religious beliefs
[stats]economy declines, employment drops, religiousness moderately falls, health slightly increases, economic freedom decreases
[option]"Have you even read the decision?" asks @@RANDOMNAME@@, lead attorney for the business owners. "The Court got this case absolutely right. In an open society and in a free market, the government should not require people to sacrifice their deeply held beliefs just because they decide to start a business. Contraception violates my clients' morals, and the public ought to be tolerant and not force them to purchase it for others. Besides, workers get paychecks for a reason. Buy your own birth control if you want it so bad."
[effect]thrifty citizens reuse condoms as they try to avoid pregnancy
[stats]health declines, wealth gap increases, economic freedom increases, religiousness moderately increases
[option]@@RANDOMNAME@@, your atheist economic advisor, observes, "Some business owners think contraception is wrong; and, if we force them to provide it, they're threatening to close their doors, which would certainly be bad for the economy. On the other hand, our citizens do need access to free birth control. I have an idea. Have the government give out contraceptives directly. It will be costly to be sure. So that we don't harm the interests of industry, let's tax houses of worship to pay for the program."
[effect]the government provides its citizens free birth control at the expense of churches
[stats]taxation increases, healthcare spending increases, health slightly increases, religiousness significantly decreases
[option]Professor @@RANDOMNAME@@, president of the @@DEMONYMADJECTIVE@@ Eugenics League, scorns, "Even with contraception, poor and stupid folk have far too many children: five or six kids apiece, usually illegitimate, who leech off of welfare their entire lives and drive up the education budget. I propose, for the good of the nation, that the government secretly introduce anti-fertility drugs into the water supplies of rural areas and the inner city. Finally, we can prevent the hicks and hoodlums from multiplying."
[effect]black-suited men are delivering large blue drums marked H2SiF6 to certain municipal water facilities
[stats]civil rights significantly decrease, authoritarianism significantly increases, welfare spending decreases, education spending decreases, social equality spending decreases, toxicity increases, health slightly declines, wealth gap narrows, intelligence increases, culture increases
