This photo of the US House Oversight and Government Reform hearings yesterday is making the rounds of the social media these days, summing up for many the truth of the anti-mandate crowd:This from HuffPo:

The morning panel at the hearing consisted exclusively of men from conservative religious organizations."What I want to know is, where are the women?" Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) asked [Chairman Darrell] Issa before walking out of the hearing after the first panel. "I look at this panel, and I don't see one single individual representing the tens of millions of women across the country who want and need insurance coverage for basic preventative health care services, including family planning. Where are the women?"

10 witnesses testified in all--few women, and none in favor of the Obama administration's stance. One proposed Democratic witness, Sandra Fluke, a third year Georgetown U. law student, was not allowed to testify because she was going to speak about the consequences to women of denying contraceptive coverage. The Democrats have started a petition asking where the women are. Have the bishops noticed the dearth of women's voices against the mandate? Will they object to the dearth of women's voices at the hearings? Waiting...Waiting...

Lisa Fullam is professor of moral theology at the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley. She is the author of The Virtue of Humility: A Thomistic Apologetic (Edwin Mellen Press).

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