Obama Birth Control Shift: Conservatives Are Not Buying It

US President Barack Obama discussing the shift in birth control policy on February 10, 2012. ( JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama's political shifting over contraception coverage has united conservative Republicans in protest even as they split over which GOP presidential hopeful should face him in the general election.

The candidates themselves, campaigning for votes in the Conservative Political Action Conference's straw poll Saturday, competed to present themselves as most opposed to Obama's health care law.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney won the straw poll Saturday, followed by former Sen. Rick Santorum, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Rep. Ron Paul, who did not attend the annual conference of conservative activists.

On Friday, after three weeks of controversy that pitted the nation's Catholic bishops against the White House, Obama revised his policy. Instead of requiring employers to cover contraception, the policy would now require insurance companies to provide free birth control coverage in separate agreements with workers who want it.

Conservatives scoffed.

"It's an accounting trick – the employer still plays the insurance," said Mike Gonzales of the Heritage Foundation. "Do (White House officials) think people are stupid?"

The controversy, several said, is a natural outgrowth of what they consider the overreach of Obama's health care mandate.

"My problem is the coercion" in the broader overhaul, said Washington real estate agent Bruce Majors.

Many shrugged off Obama's rewrite.

"It's not like they said, `We were wrong," said Spencer Larson, an investment adviser from Moraga, Calif. "They said, `We can't afford this politically.'"

"Nothing in health insurance is free," agreed Cherylyn Harley LeBon, a lawyer. "The cost is going to be passed on" to employees of religious organizations and everyone else, she said.

Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and 2008 vice presidential nominee, closed the three-day CPAC gathering Saturday with a conservative call to arms full of derision for Obama.

Palin did not endorse a presidential candidate. But she offered little comfort to Romney, who is imploring Republicans to rally around his candidacy so he can start focusing on Obama and November.

"I believe the competition has got to keep going," Palin said to loud applause. "Competition strengthens us," she said. "Competition will lead us to victory in 2012."

Palin decried "the Washington of the permanent class," where she said people arrive with good intentions and stay to enrich themselves and their cronies.

"It's time to drain the Jacuzzi," she said.

The whole debate over government health insurance has cost Obama plenty. His party lost the House majority in 2010 in part because of a backlash over the new law's demands on private industry and individuals.

The resentments erupted anew after the Obama administration on Jan. 20 announced that religious-affiliated employers, except houses of worship, had to cover birth control free of charge as preventive care for women. These hospitals, schools and charities were given until August 2013 to comply.

Under the revision, women will still get guaranteed access to birth control without co-pays or premiums no matter where they work, a provision of Obama's health care law that he insisted must remain. But religious universities and hospitals that see contraception as an unconscionable violation of their faith can refuse to cover it. Insurance companies will then have to step in to do so.

A Fox News poll released Friday showed a large majority, 61 percent, of Americans approve of requiring employer health plans to cover birth control for women. Thirty-four percent disapproved. The nationwide survey was conducted by telephone among 1,110 registered voters Feb. 6-9 and has a margin of error of 3 percentage points, the network said.

The furor was part of a recent resurgence of social issues, including gay marriage and the funding of Planned Parenthood, in the political discourse. For Obama, the uproar risked his clout with independents, women and Catholics in battleground states from Pennsylvania to across the Midwest.

Republicans, meanwhile, roiling over a presidential nominating contest that shows no sign of settling, pounced on the issue. From the House and Senate to the presidential campaign trail this week, they cast the contraception controversy as an assault on the freedom of religion. It was a battle cry the divided party could bellow in unison.

At the CPAC convention Friday in Washington, the political candidates made contrasting appeals to conservatives but vowed to repeal all or parts of what they call "Obamacare."

Former Sen. Rick Santorum, who swept three nomination contests earlier in the week, said that with the health care law, Obama "is telling the Catholic Church that they are forced to pay for things that are against their basic tenants and teachings."

"It's not about contraception," said Santorum, a Catholic. "It's about economic liberty."

Romney, a Mormon who in the past supported abortion rights, vowed to reverse "every single Obama regulation that attacks our religious liberty and threatens innocent life."

Romney won the CPAC straw poll with 38 percent of the 3,408 votes cast. Santorum drew 31 percent, and Gingrich was favored by 15 percent. All three candidates addressed the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday.

Romney had encouraged college-age people to attend the convention, and 44 percent of those who voted were students.

Paul had 12 percent. He won the straw poll in the previous two years. Paul did not attend this year's conference to campaign in Maine.

___

Associated Press writer Charles Babington contributed to this report.

Comments

[Ipanemagirl]

01:21 PM on 02/13/2012

The catholic church is sooooooooo outdated when it comes to sex, I dont know how anybody can relate to it anymore! They should be helping people by advising them and encouraging them use birth cntrol and only have as many kids as they can well afford to take care of.
Maybe they should turn their attention more to preventing priests from molesting children....by allowing them to have sex in their lives. Most priests I know in Brasil have some women on the side...some even have kids.Shocking? I find it more natural than forcing someone to live a life of celibacy so they cost less to manage for the church....families cost more to house and subsidize than a man alone...thats all that is about! Catholic church is just one big corporation.

[Bruce H Majors]

08:43 AM on 02/13/2012

Think of all the new things we can mandate, or mandate that everyone pay for. Free eugenic testing for the gay gene, for those prospective parents who want it. Free reparative theory. Mandating that everyone pray, since that has been shown to speed healing. Mandatory radical mastectomy for women with a family history of breast cancer. It's a thrilling and never ending list, that inspires me to take up surgery.

[surfinnonreality]

09:03 PM on 02/12/2012

This is going to get even more interesting. Several states attorney generals are bringing a lawsuit against it. Another obamacare issue to be resolved in the Supreme Court.

[calmly2]

08:36 AM on 02/13/2012

It's going to be a losing battle for the Rs... They will only damage themselves, which i wholeheartedly approve of.

[JERRY BATTECA]

08:53 PM on 02/17/2012

over 40 million Catholics and they vote also.. can realy hurt Obama, and that is good

[Bike Commuter]

09:24 AM on 02/13/2012

Funny how these people talk about wanting to be financially responsible, but then they go off an spend money fighting something that has already been upheld in court multiple times. They know it is constitutional. They just want to use government money to make political attacks, even though they know it won't go anywhere.

[Bike Commuter]

09:50 AM on 02/13/2012

It reminds me of something that happened in my state of Oklahoma recently. They managed to get a measure on the ballot saying that Sha.r.ia law cannot be considered in any court. Of course, since the word "Sha.r.ia" was used, it passed by about 70%. The problem is that it was obviously unconstitutional, as it singled out one and only one religion (it didn't just prevent any religious law from being considered). Plus, it made certain points of law impossible to consider because agreeing parties do have the right to note some religious stipulations in contracts.

It was obvious going in that it was going to be struck down, but that didn't stop our state from spending millions putting it on the ballot and then later trying to defend it in court.

[surfinnonreality]

11:39 AM on 02/13/2012

This time the federal government took actions that went against the seperation of church and state. It is now a First Amendment issue. Not a health issue.

[aligatorhardt]

08:01 PM on 02/12/2012

This is another made up bunch of nonsense from Republicans, as the law has not changed on this issue. http://motherjones.com/politics/2012/02/controversial-obama-birth-control-rule-already-law

[GentleGim]

06:47 PM on 02/12/2012

There is a huge difference between making something available and forcing someone to use it. No religious person is forced to USE contraception by this proposed rule. If the Catholics don't want to use it... fine, don't use it. If they don't want my sister to not use it they have every right to try to convince her not to want to use it too. But in this country, no one gets to tell my sister she CAN'T use it because it is against their religion. For many women, if birth control is not covered... it is not available. And no religion gets to reach outside their own cult to decide what can be available for someone else.

[surfinnonreality]

09:04 PM on 02/12/2012

Birth control may be the focal point but the issue is mandates that overide the First Amendment.

[GentleGim]

09:08 PM on 02/12/2012

It really isn't. Concessions have been made for the delicacies of the religions involved but the public good must be paramount.

[SallyStrange]

01:10 AM on 02/13/2012

No, the first amendment does not grant the Catholic church the right to impose fines on non-Catholics who don't abide by Catholic rules. Which is essentially what they are doing.

[Asmondius]

01:14 AM on 02/13/2012

There is an huge difference - but since the issue has nothing to do with actual use of contraceptives your point is not relevant.

[Lafhaus]

05:51 PM on 02/12/2012

x

[tythehound]

04:46 PM on 02/12/2012

Republicans and Conservitives in particular cannot stand success they feed on failure

[Asmondius]

01:15 AM on 02/13/2012

And what a trough Obama has provided!

[The last sane American]

03:54 PM on 02/12/2012

It has been fun in the trenches this afternoon. have a great Holiday.

[CaptainVideo]

02:57 PM on 02/12/2012

Right wing support for laws that deny women access to contraceptives and abortion is the Christian counterpart to Sharia law, law that imposes religious dogmas on the population. Fortunately the majority of Christians do not support this. For example, a large majority of Catholics favor women having access to contraceptives.

[Asmondius]

01:17 AM on 02/13/2012

There are no laws denying women access to contraception - except in your post.

[Bike Commuter]

09:40 AM on 02/13/2012

Forcing women to pay more does, in fact, deny some access to it. Nearly 90% of health plans cover it. Telling women that they should pay about $1000 extra out of pocket every year when almost all others in the same employment situation don't, is denying them access to it.

[Ipanemagirl]

01:29 PM on 02/13/2012

catholic women have more abortions than any other group. Maybe because they are encouraged not to use birth control? How stupid is that? birth control is the best safeguard against abortions...yet here they are , forcing women to have more children than they want just to make mre catholics and keep women bogged at home changing diapers intead of having a career and some independence..

[CaptainVideo]

02:38 PM on 02/12/2012

"My problem is the coercion"

Insurance companies are corporations. Corporations are not people and therefore do not have any rights. Only individuals are people and have rights.

The right of women to contraception is therefore a right that needs to be protected. For insurance companies to fail to cover contraception is not a right that needs to be protected. If corporations do not do the right thing, it is perfectly acceptable to coerce them to do so.

[Asmondius]

01:17 AM on 02/13/2012

Insurance componies are not the issue - try reading up on the topic.

[Ipanemagirl]

01:30 PM on 02/13/2012

well said ! fanned!

[surfinnonreality]

10:47 AM on 02/12/2012

So the federal government can now tell any business what health care they must offer, how much it has to pay and who they have to offer it to? So now it can demand everyone have liposuction becuae michelle o want everyone to look thin? It can demand plastic surgery be done on everyone's nose so we all have the same shaped nose? So now the federal government can demand we all keep records of all the food we eat to insure the health care we will receive isn't wasted by eating sugar and whte flour? Sound silly? This isn't an issue of birth control. That may be the focal point, but this is an issue of government intrusion into religion, business and personal beliefs. It is just another step the obama regime has taken to deprive us of our rights. In this case he is attacking the freedom of religion.

[Mayra Solano]

11:10 AM on 02/12/2012

It's becoming an issue of religious intrusion into government actually. The law requiring insurers to provide birth control has been in effect long before now. Republicans just need another thing to whine about.

[Asmondius]

01:18 AM on 02/13/2012

And what law is that?

[skeakins]

12:59 PM on 02/12/2012

Fanned! An excellent post. Obamacare must be repealed and Obama voted out of office if the US is to survive as a free country.

[c0ncrete]

01:42 PM on 02/12/2012

hyperbole much?

[patricksmom]

02:31 PM on 02/12/2012

Silly little neocon.

[dragucci]

10:42 AM on 02/12/2012

Of course their not buying it, their programmed not to or paid lots to go on t.v. And call the man the anti Christ.Ah, what a paranoid web we weave.

[Ipanemagirl]

01:32 PM on 02/13/2012

The GOP is losing women voters by the millions by their stupid outdated stance on contraceptives....its basically just another excuse to bash Obama, while simultaneously taking a swipe at womens independence and rights ll!

[biabouman41]

09:12 AM on 02/12/2012

A week ago Republicans were congratulating themselves and the Bishops for finding a wedge issue. But Obama's brilliant chess move have left them with their mouths agape, like pirrahnas, ready to be fried.

Actually, I suspect the solution came from Michelle Obama who used to be a hospital Administrator.

[skeakins]

01:01 PM on 02/12/2012

Michelle Obama was many things...including an alleged extortionist who had her law license revoked judicially in 1993.

[biabouman41]

01:46 PM on 02/12/2012

another Republican fabrication we have come to expect

[c0ncrete]

01:49 PM on 02/12/2012

you get an 'f' for effort.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/lawlicenses.asp

[Ipanemagirl]

01:34 PM on 02/13/2012

are catholic bishops republicans? How can any chrisitian ally themselves with republicans unless they are a corporation like the catholic and mormon church.

[biabouman41]

02:14 PM on 02/13/2012

Cash

[IMOPINIONH8D]

08:22 AM on 02/12/2012

The repubs can see the economy is slowly recovering and know they will lose that arguement so now they are going to restart the culture wars. As for the churches and birth control. If they want to start businesses and slap the churches name on that organization it should be treated the same as anyother business.

[ColoLibertarian]

08:28 AM on 02/12/2012

Like a homeless shelter or a soup kitchen is a "business."

Not even a nice try. Just a silly argument.

[IMOPINIONH8D]

08:54 AM on 02/12/2012

Like a hospital.

[biabouman41]

09:13 AM on 02/12/2012

Or a trinket store

[Mayra Solano]

08:36 AM on 02/12/2012

The party of NO is grasping at straws. They are tripping over themselves on their run to lose the election. The reason they don't have a clear front runner is because they are debating which one is going to be their sacrificial lamb come November. It's quite interesting to watch. I participate in forums where the membership is world wide, and even the people from other countries find them entertaining. With their moon colony, child labor, "corporations are people", they have become the laughingstock they used to be when Dubbya (Mission accomplished NOT) was president.

[lisalulu]

08:43 AM on 02/12/2012

f/f fan still now working!!!!

[patricksmom]

02:33 PM on 02/12/2012

Excellent post.

[ColoLibertarian]

08:15 AM on 02/12/2012

Only a democrat like obama could believe that there is a difference between an employer paying for something it believes to be fundamentally immoral and that same employer paying an insurance company to provide the same immoral act.

Why does he keep treating us like we are such simpletons? He clearly has absolutely no regard nor respect for most Americans.

[Mediorite]

08:45 AM on 02/12/2012

Most Americans support him on this.

[ColoLibertarian]

09:33 AM on 02/12/2012

Our Constitution does not depend on majority rule. It protects the rights of all. Even if they are in the minority.

[skeakins]

01:04 PM on 02/12/2012

Wrong! The man continues to step all over our freedoms and the people will no longer put up with his attempt to turn the US into a socialized, dependent society with himself as dictator. He just lost a lot of votes.

[lisalulu]

08:46 AM on 02/12/2012

Because so many of you are simply wrong on the facts and law.

There is over 200 years of precedent allowing government regulation that is upheld since it does not impact your ability to practice your faith - no harm.

Remember the Prop 8 case in CA overturned - same thing, the haters/sponsors could not prove the gay marriage "harms" anyone.

Birth control is not fundamentally immoral - opposition to it sure is.

[ColoLibertarian]

09:31 AM on 02/12/2012

Odd that you faled to make the "no harm" claim about the requirement to provide abortive medications.

I trust that our Supreme Court will not miss that operative fact.

[aligatorhardt]

08:13 PM on 02/12/2012

Fanned in theory, button disabled by disappointed cons.