There has been quite a stink in the past few weeks regarding birth control and federal health mandates.

President Obama released his plan, much to the disdain of the Catholic Church, which would require businesses, schools and other institutions directly affiliated with a church to violate their conscience and provide payment for birth control in their insurance policies.

First off, there is no clause, section or paragraph anywhere in the Constitution giving the federal government the power to tell any group they have to spend money on something.

But money is not the issue here; in fact, birth control actually saves money by keeping not-pregnant workers from taking a maternity leave.

So, what’s the deal?  The deal is that we have a bunch of men making laws, passing reforms and creating mandates that don’t concern men. Why is it okay to let a man decide what a woman puts in her body? Why is it okay to let anyone decide what anyone can put in his or her body?

I am pro-life, but abortion is a whole other subject. Abortion is not birth control.  This is pre-insemination. And I just think it’s a bit chauvinistic for a bunch of old men to decide what women can or can’t put in their bodies.

It’s even worse that they are telling places like St. Frances Hospital that they must provide birth control to women in their insurance policy or face fines. If the woman wants birth control bad enough, then she can find it almost anywhere and sometimes for free.

But let’s not forget the best form of birth control: abstinence.  Abstinence is totally free-of-charge. I know I may seem out-of-touch, but the fact remains: If you don’t want to get pregnant, don’t have intercourse. Seems like a simple enough idea.

Let’s be real – I know telling people to be abstinent is an abstract concept.  We all need to be at a place where we can agree that the government does not need to be in the bedroom.

I never thought we would even be having this conversation. I’m sorry, but the government shouldn’t mandate a business buy anything for its workers. The government’s place in business is equivalent to its place in the bedroom.  It just doesn’t belong in either.

You can’t legislate morality, and you can’t dictate people’s lives.  The moment our government starts doing that, is the moment we move even closer to the tyrannical sect of government our founders feared.