When the GOP made big gains in the 2010 midterm election, I predicted that we were going to see a full-out onslaught against women’s rights — and today we learned of the latest front in this misogynist war, as the religious right tries to redefine the word “preventive” in order to deny women birth control.

Dr. Hal C. Lawrence III, vice president of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said contraceptives fit any reasonable definition of preventive health care because they averted unintended pregnancies and allowed women to control the timing, number and spacing of births. This, in turn, improves maternal and child health by reducing infant mortality, complications of pregnancy and even birth defects, said Dr. Lawrence, who is in charge of the group’s practice guidelines.

But the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and some conservative groups, including the Family Research Council, say birth control is not a preventive service in the usual sense of the term.

“Pregnancy is not a disease to be prevented, nor is fertility a pathological condition,” said Deirdre A. McQuade, a spokeswoman for the bishops’ Pro-Life Secretariat. “So birth control is not preventive care, and it should not be mandated.”

The Family Research Council was recently listed as an an anti-gay hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, but here they are with a voice in national policies that affect women. And why do Catholic bishops have any say in political decisions?

We don’t need to go to Afghanistan to fight the Taliban — the same Dark Ages views are running rampant right here in the United States.