Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) spoke out forcefully in favor of reproductive rights on Wednesday in Homer, Alaska, as many in her party have sought to restrict them.
"It makes no sense to make this attack on women," she said on KBBI AM 890 Public Radio's Coffee Table program, according to the Homer News. "If you don't feel this is an attack, you need to go home and talk to your wife and your daughters."
She also said that she would continue to support funding for Planned Parenthood, adding that the courts have affirmed a legal right to an abortion and she stands by that.
Murkowski criticized GOP presidential candidates for not condemning Rush Limbaugh for calling Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke a "slut" and a "prostitute," which he later apologized for. Fluke was rejected as a witness before a panel on the Obama contraception mandate chaired by House Oversight And Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) last February. (She spoke Thursday to HuffPost in a Q&A.)
"To have those kind of slurs against a woman … you had candidates who want to be our president not say, 'That's wrong. That's offensive.' They did not condemn the rhetoric," she said.
Mitt Romney, whom she endorsed, said "it’s not the language I would have used." Rick Santorum called his comments "absurd." Newt Gingrich said that Limbaugh was right to apologize.
Murkowski, however, voted for the failed Blunt Amendment last month along with all but one Republican, which would have allowed employers to refuse to cover contraception or any other health service for moral reasons. She later said she regretted her vote and wouldn't do it again if she had the chance.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article stated that Murkowski's comments came at a Chamber of Commerce luncheon. The comments came on public radio station KBBI.