I applaud the young women who spoke out on July 1 in solidarity with women potentially impacted by the decision overturning Roe v. Wade, but the article in the Summit Daily News about this action missed the boat. The blueness of Colorado laws is irrelevant to the larger issue, which is control of health care by a radical religious sect, aka the Catholic Church.

In Summit County the primary hospital, the only emergency room, most of the urgent cares and the majority of medical practitioners are controlled by policies of the Catholic Church. In Denver and elsewhere across the state most of the hospitals are controlled by the Catholic Church, no matter what religion may be present in the hospital name.

It goes without saying that none of these resources will be available to anyone seeking an abortion no matter what Colorado State law says. But what about other things? Medical care during and after a miscarriage? If a woman is diagnosed with cancer while still fertile, will these facilities approve chemotherapy which could kill the eggs? How about for a man with viable sperm? Vasectomies? Could a person with a family history of ovarian cancer have their ovaries removed, even if remaining eggs are viable? Do you want a panel of priests deciding if someone can have a hysterectomy or if they should just suck it up and deal with the pain of uterine fibroids or cancer risk? 

It is time to get religion out of health care and out of government. It is time for county and state governments to stop contracting with religious entities for health care services. And it is past time that a bunch of men who cannot even control their own colleagues stopped trying to control the rest of us.