Because Chicks Ruin Everything (or: The All-Dude Panel at the U.S.’s House Hearing on Contraception)

The issue, in case you haven’t been following the news: The Obama administration’s new regulation requiring employers and insurers to provide contraception coverage to their employees. If you’re an employer whose mores come from 10,000 B.C. and don’t want to pay for your female employees’ birth control, the insurance company will cover the cost and not a penny will come from you.

The opponents: Republicans, who are sponsoring legislation to limit the availability of birth control to women. The regulation, they argue, is an infringement on religious liberty and freedom of conscience.

The picture above: The first panel of witnesses at a house hearing to review the new regulation. Here’s a roll call:

• The Most Reverend William E. Lori: Roman Catholic Bishop of Bridgeport, CT, Chairman Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
• The Reverend Dr. Matthew C. Harrison: President, The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod
• C. Ben Mitchell, Ph.D.: Graves Professor of Moral Philosophy, Union University
• Rabbi Meir Soloveichik: Director of the Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought, Yeshiva University, Associate Rabbi, Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun
• Craig Mitchell, Ph.D.: Associate Professor of Ethics, Chair of the Ethics Department, Associate Director of the Richard Land Center for Cultural Engagement, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

They’re all men. It gets better with the second panel, which has two women out of six members:

• John H. Garvey, President, The Catholic University of America
• Dr. William K. Thierfelder, President, Belmont Abbey College
• Dr. Samuel W. "Dub" Oliver, President, East Texas Baptist University
• Dr. Allison Dabbs Garrett, Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, Oklahoma Christian University
• Laura Champion, M.D., Medical Director, Calvin College Health Services
• Barry W. Lynn, Esq., Executive Director, Americans United for Separation of Church and State

Both panels put together have:

• Two women out of 11 panelists
• 10 out of 11 panelists associated with religious institutions

This seems to sit well with House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), who insists that “the hearing is not about reproductive rights and contraception but instead about the Administration’s actions as they relate to freedom of religion and conscience”. This line of reasoning was also used to disqualify one witness, a female university student, since she didn’t “have the appropriate credentials” to testify before his committee.

The exchange over the skewed membership of the panels included these moments:

For more, see this article on Think Progress.