Rachel Maddow appeared on NBC's "Meet The Press" Sunday morning and clashed with a fellow panelist during a heated discussion on contraception.
Maddow was joined on the panel by New York Times columnist David Brooks, Republican strategist Alex Castellanos, and Rep. Xavier Becerra. "Meet The Press" host David Gregory asked the panel to weigh in on GOP candidate Mitt Romney's Saturday night win in the Nevada caucuses.
Brooks commented on how he believed Romney had won back the Evangelical vote due to the "perception" that President Barack Obama was "assaulting religious freedom" by mandating that Catholic institutions offer contraception as part of employee health plans.
Maddow responded to Brooks' comment. "Roughly 80 percent of people say that anybody providing health insurance should be required to cover contraception. And so there is a way you can try to make this into a religious freedom issue but...campaigning against the availability of birth control in America is going to run into a 21st century ceiling," Maddow said.
Castellanos disagreed with Maddow. "You can try to make this a religious issue?" Castellanos repeated. "The [Obama] administration said that even if you're a Catholic hospital or a Catholic university, you can't live your beliefs."
Maddow later said, "the idea that the Catholic church is being forced to do something that, as a church, it does not want to do is a misnomer...The question here is...when you want to become a health insurance provider, you must follow the rules of providing health insurance. And in this country, that means you have to cover contraception."
Castellanos began to interrupt Maddow but she continued. "You guys only want to make this about religion, but listen," Maddow said. "The administration made this only about religion—ask the Bishop," Castellanos said as he talked over Maddow.
Maddow ended her comment by saying that the Republican Party was "waging war on contraception at this point."
View the slideshow below for more information about the candidates' views on women's health:
Former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-Mass.)
1 of 6
FIRST SLIDE
PREVIOUS SLIDE
NEXT SLIDESHOW
Romney's position on abortion and other women's health issues switched from pro-choice to anti-choice during his term as governor from 2003 to 2007, and his record on choice-related issues is mixed. He vetoed a measure that would have allowed pharmacists to dispense emergency contraception without a prescription to rape victims, but he signed into law a measure to expand family planning services for low-income women and families in Massachusetts.
Romney was also one of the few GOP candidates who refused to sign the Susan B. Anthony List's pro-life pledge, because his camp said it could have some "potentially unforeseen consequences." But he believes abortion should only be legal in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother, and he said if he were president he would support the reversal of Roe v. Wade.
"This is not the time for the Republican Party to put up a candidate who is weak on the pro-life issue or has a history of flip-flopping over it," Bachmann said of Romney at a National Right to Life convention in June.
Romney said as president he would defund Planned Parenthood, and then took it even further saying he'd "get rid of that" altogether.
Romney's position on abortion and other women's health issues switched from pro-choice to anti-choice during his term as governor from 2003 to 2007, and his record on choice-related issues is mixed. He vetoed a measure that would have allowed pharmacists to dispense emergency contraception without a prescription to rape victims, but he signed into law a measure to expand family planning services for low-income women and families in Massachusetts.
Romney was also one of the few GOP candidates who refused to sign the Susan B. Anthony List's pro-life pledge, because his camp said it could have some "potentially unforeseen consequences." But he believes abortion should only be legal in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother, and he said if he were president he would support the reversal of Roe v. Wade.
"This is not the time for the Republican Party to put up a candidate who is weak on the pro-life issue or has a history of flip-flopping over it," Bachmann said of Romney at a National Right to Life convention in June.
Romney said as president he would defund Planned Parenthood, and then took it even further saying he'd "get rid of that" altogether.
Former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-Mass.)
1
/ 6
SHARE THIS SLIDE
Romney's position on abortion and other women's health issues switched from pro-choice to anti-choice during his term as governor from 2003 to 2007, and his record on choice-related issues is mixed. He vetoed a measure that would have allowed pharmacists to dispense emergency contraception without a prescription to rape victims, but he signed into law a measure to expand family planning services for low-income women and families in Massachusetts.
Romney was also one of the few GOP candidates who refused to sign the Susan B. Anthony List's pro-life pledge, because his camp said it could have some "potentially unforeseen consequences." But he believes abortion should only be legal in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother, and he said if he were president he would support the reversal of Roe v. Wade.
"This is not the time for the Republican Party to put up a candidate who is weak on the pro-life issue or has a history of flip-flopping over it," Bachmann said of Romney at a National Right to Life convention in June.
Romney said as president he would defund Planned Parenthood, and then took it even further saying he'd "get rid of that" altogether.
Rachel Maddow appeared on NBC's "Meet The Press" Sunday morning and clashed with a fellow panelist during a heated discussion on contraception.
Maddow was joined on the panel by New York Times col...
Rachel Maddow appeared on NBC's "Meet The Press" Sunday morning and clashed with a fellow panelist during a heated discussion on contraception.
Maddow was joined on the panel by New York Times col...
As a church, we need to re-examine the ways we are supporting (or failing to support) women and men who are struggling with sexuality, the economy, and the difficult decisions involved in responsible parenting.
Religious organizations, hospitals and universities are justified in not following the new Health and Human Services Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act rule as their conscience dictates.
The Huffington Post Rebecca Shapiro First Posted: 02/ 5/2012 12:46 pm Updated: 02/ 5/2012 2:08 pm