WOMEN VOTE: OK, Let’s Talk About Birth Control | Dawn Laguens
Let me get this straight: Control of the Senate hangs on whether women show up to vote, and candidates with long records against women’s health want to make this election about birth control. Where do I send the thank-you card? Would a gift basket from Hickory Farms be too much? This is cause for celebration, because if you’re a candidate who is against abortion and birth control, the last thing you want to campaign on for the next two months is abortion and birth control.
But it’s too late now. No take-backs. If they want to talk about women’s health, let’s talk about it. Because doing things their way would mean we would lose insurance coverage for birth control, and we’re not willing to go back.
We should have known this is where they were going when Rep. Mike Coffman in Colorado said, “I support a woman’s access to…” and forgot the words “birth control.” Everyone had a good laugh about it, but few noticed the first part of that sentence. It was strange coming from someone who voted to ban funding for Planned Parenthood health centers, who provide women with access to a lot of, well, you know.
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So Ernst, Tillis, Gardner, et al want to campaign on birth control? Twist my arm. If these politicians want to make birth control a dominant issue in the 2014 by proposing a new $483 million birth control tax on American women, we’re game.