The more the economy improves, the more upset the Republican right seems to be about contraception.
Republicans love a good moral issue the way Democrats love a good class issue -- especially this election, when voter anger does not seem to be breaking the GOP's way.
With mounting signs that the economy is starting to get some traction, boiling populist rage is dialing down to a grumbling simmer, raising the possibility of the GOP nightmare scenario: voters going into the election in a reasonably upbeat mood.
To make matters worse, the old reliable -- gay marriage -- seems to have lost its power to rally the cause. For the first time, Gallup reports, a majority of Americans support it. Six states and another on the way have approved gay marriage, and yet the American way of life appears to have survived. Contrary to the religious right's warning that gay marriage is a slippery slope to bestiality, there have been no confirmed reports of anyone applying for a license to marry their dog.
Stem cells? Creationism? Sex education? Even as the far religious right clings to those issues with evangelical fervor, they must see a world that is moving on.
So: what is a right-dominated party in search of a red meat issue to do? When in doubt, look to the classics: control over the decisions women make about their lives and bodies.
While the abortion debate has raged for decades, contraception has stayed quietly in the confines of personal decision. The sexual revolution is long over (sex won). Even a practicing moralist like Rick Santorum allows that he doesn't like birth control ("... it's a license to do things in the sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be"), but he'll live with it.
That changed abruptly when the administration whacked the wasp nest with a mandate that religious organizations must offer contraception in their insurance plans.
Where some see a blunder that handed the opposition an issue, others see smart election-year strategy.
Shoved from the right, Republicans barreled into the issue, and found themselves against something that 98 percent of heterosexually active women use, clear majorities support, and the medical community says saves lives and families.
Sixty five percent of those between the ages of 18 and 29 -- prime time for reproduction -- believe coverage by employers should be available at no cost.
The Democrats couldn't have written a better script for the House oversight committee hearings on the issue: five Republican witnesses proposing rules affecting female reproduction -- five males. There has been nothing like it since the bullying interrogation of Anita Hill.
There is also the possibility -- even in an election year -- that the mandates are simply the right thing to do.
More than 800,000 people, for example, receive benefits from Catholic hospitals. Some two million students attend religious affiliated schools. Many poor women struggle to pay for contraception. The mandate could be an honest attempt to assure access by millions of people to an important health benefit.
One other possibility: this is an early skirmish in an upcoming fight over Title X funding, which disperses some $300 million to clinics for contraceptive supplies and information, breast and pelvic exams, and other health services. A national network of clinics sees some 5 million patients a year -- 70 percent below the Federal poverty line; two-thirds with no health insurance.
Title X has wide recognition -- even anti-abortion groups haven't targeted it -- for the work it does, often providing poor women services they can get nowhere else. But not all are fans.
Title X money also goes to Planned Parenthood, which provides abortion services. Fresh from the Susan G. Komen Foundation's cynical ploy to cut off Planned Parenthood funding, there is at least cause for concern that clinic funding could suffer collateral damage from those itching for another run at Planned Parenthood.
Two Republican budget proposals would have zeroed out the funding. Mitt Romney, in the name of budget cutting, promises to end funding. Santorum promises to "repeal Clinton-era Title X family planning regulations..." Newt Gingrich, who cast 74 votes on reproductive rights -- all but two of them anti-women's health -- also promises Title X's demise.
With an issue so personal and so important to so many, attention will move on once the political advantage is gone. The lesson, once again, is how the pursuit of that advantage can have such easy disregard for the health and rights of the women it impacts.
Follow Dr. Peggy Drexler on Twitter: www.twitter.com/drpeggydrexler
Michael Kieschnick: A Father's Perspective on the Contraception War
Lyle Denniston: Constitution Check: Does Mandated Birth Control Insurance Violate Religious Freedom?
Watching them run to the centre means we must use the words of today against them then. To expose the hypocrisy will show the independents how silly the republicans have become.
Men often complain they don't get enough sex. They make jokes at weddings about how the poor groom is never getting any nookie now that he put a ring on it. When you have access to safe, reliable birth control, one is free to bang one's partner to her partner's delight. Why would you cut yourself off from access to the goods?
Men, you DO realize, don't you, that if the religious right has its way and bans BC (and I'm sure this is just the first salvo in that battle) then nobody is going to want to have sex with you for fear of unwanted children? So it's in MEN's best interests to support affordable access to BC for all women. The more women who can afford safe, easy access to BC, the more your chances of getting some increase.
The only reason I can think of that someone would say BC is bad is if they are so deeply insecure, they can't handle the idea that they might be inept or inadequate and their woman might look elsewhere for satisfaction.
And if this whole "BC is bad and dirty and dangerous" meme keeps on rolling, guess what? If you want the tricks, you're gonna get kids. Remember the days when everyone had 8-12 kids and nobody could afford shoes for those kids? That's WHY we have BC now. Hope you can afford it.
What some men realize is you are making sexist generalizations about our gender. If you think insulting men is going to make them your supporters think again. The reasons these people are against birth control are the dictates of their faith. We don't call people insecure for having embraced a particular faith, but then again some intolerant do. Stop insulting men to make your points. Such a fact free slanderous attack proves nothing but your lack of respect for men.
Let us deny them our future generations until these men respect us.
At first, the Schadenfreude was delicious, but now it is just becoming painful to watch them self-destruct...or not. *snicker*
BTW - there is no such thing as unplanned pregnancy, except in cases of force. If you take the risk and lose, it should not be on anyone else to pay for the choice. If you cannot afford the kid, then you should be charged with child neglect. (that was a rhetorical "you," I did not mean you personally).
Abortion saves lives! This seems to be the latest developing feminists slogan, but many girls don't like growing up in an ever increasingly anti-child world where they are expected to swallow pills everyday to please a man. When that plan fails, then they are expected to visit the clinic. When will women stand up and fight this war on babies?
Though higher education helps, it honestly doesn't take a Master's degree to see how destructive liberalism is to the individual, family, and society.
If you add in the millions of legal Hispanics that they have made hostile & throw in the gay population that they have managed to both denigrate & alienate, the numbers are staggering.
When the dust clears at the end of November, the Repubaggers will find themselves sitting amongst the ruins of the party, brought on by their own self destruction here in the 21st Century in America.
Please name a personal religious belief of Obama's, that he is thrusting upon us. If you could provide a specific list that would be helpful for us to make an informed decision. We know what beliefs Mr. Santorum wants to dictate to us. Thankfully, he has been pretty clear. Please, inform us.
If 4 in 10 women simply refuse to defend female reproductive rights, should a higher than 60% of men do it for them?
If they won't watch out for one another first, I'm afraid help is not likely to come from other sources.
This is the same reason so many men vote republican.
My point was, and you've backed me up, when Dem leaning women or "pro choice" women frame the "reproductive rights" argument as men vs. women only, and many do, they are making a big mistake and are kind of in denial.
Children's health -- Republicans cut services and federal aid for state children's services in opposition to the views of the Democrats.
Security -- Bush and the Republicans let 911 happen, started two disastrous wars, and failed to get Osama Bin Laden. Obama is getting us out of this mess, has yet to experience a terrorist attack on US soil, and has essentially destroyed Al Qaeda.
Morality -- Republicans demagogue morality while oppressing the poor, preaching hatred, starting wars, and selling their office; any attempt to claim moral superiority by the right wing is laughable at best. The right wing is currently half a step away from being a Christian flavored Taliban.
Why would anybody, other than millionaires, vote Republican other than in ignorance.
1. There is no "push to deny contraceptives" from any republican nominee. Not a single one. There is only a push to deny the federal government the authority to dictate what medical procedures a private organization must pay for.
2. The republican party has not changed its position on abortion in 40 years. It is the same as its always been. That position is -- Roe v. Wade was the worst legal decision made by the Supreme Court since Dred Scot. While it is unlikely to be overturned, it is nevertheless in everyone's best interests to decrease the number of abortions.
3. Gay marriage is not a republican issue. It is a democratic one. In general, most republicans would like marriage to remain as it has always been defined for countless thousands of years in every culture on Earth. The only position taken by the republican party at the national level is to keep the legas issue at the state level.