Republicans Are Coming For Contraception Too

If one has followed the agenda of the far "Christian" Right over the last three or four decades, it has long been about turning back the sexual revolution of the later 1960's and 1970's with ending the right to abortion being but one item on their hitlist.   Also on the hitlist are gay rights which they would erase and/or recriminalize, no fault divorce, and contraception, the latter two of which have increased the independence of women and increase their ability to escape abusive and male patriarchal husbands who see women's roles as being subservient and in the home.  The only exceptions to this are far right women who push money making "ministries" pushing the far right Christian agenda or the women of Fox News and similar right wing propaganda sites that echo their archaic and ignorance embracing dogma.  With Rove v. Wade gone thanks to Trump's extremist appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court, across the country one can watch Republicans pushing to roll back women's rights and restrict women's control of their own bodies.  Republican claims to the contrary are simply more lies.  Indeed, with the MAGA Republicans - as with most of the conservative "Christians" I have encountered over the years, lying is perfectly fine so long as it further their agenda.  A column in the Washington Post looks at this part of the MAGA agenda:

For decades, the forced-birth crowd pooh-poohed pro-choice activists’ warnings that partisan right-wing judges were out to gut Roe v. Wade. “Hysterical!” “Fearmongering!” Then the six-person radical majority shredded nearly 50 years of precedent to deprive women of bodily autonomy. The right responded, “Leave it to the states, they’ll be reasonable!” What followed were a series of inhumane, unworkable and dangerous abortion bans that have threatened women’s lives, created a shortage of doctors and sparked legal chaos and endless litigation.

Next, Democrats warned that Republicans were after IVF. “Absurd!” Well, Republicans in Congress voted against protection for IVF. Alabama effectively banned it before a backlash forced a reversal.

By now, you would think Democrats’ warnings that Republicans are coming after reproductive rights, including contraception, would be heeded. But, predictably, Republicans cry foul and deny any thought of snatching away contraception access. Ah, but along came felon and former president Donald Trump who let slip he was “looking at” contraception restrictions; then he backpedaled once he realized too much candor was politically disastrous.

And — no surprise — Republicans again showed their stripes last week. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer taunted Republicans before calling for a vote on bill offering national protection for contraception. “This week and in future weeks, Senate Republicans will have to answer for their antiabortion, anti-women agenda,” he said. “And my Republican colleagues should know that the American people are closely watching.”

The bill was straightforward. “The Democratic bill — intended to put Republicans on the spot in an election year on their unpopular positions on reproductive rights — would have prevented states from passing laws that limit access to contraception, including hormonal birth control and intrauterine devices,” . . . . Nine Republicans ducked the vote; all other male Republicans voted against it. Two female Republicans and all Democrats present voted for it.

Ahead of the vote, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) underscored the significance of the moment. “What message do we want to send our constituents? That we support their right to birth control? That we support access to IUDs, to Plan B? Or that we are okay taking that right away, and letting politicians make medical decisions for women in this country,” she said.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), one of only two Republians to vote for the bill, in a video replied that if it is a “messaging” bill, that “I want my message to be very clear — a woman has a right to contraception.” Her fellow Republicans’ voting no obviously did not.

Republicans’ rationale for opposing the measure was confused and contradictory. They said it was “unnecessary,” although they had loudly cheered Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which ripped away the underpinning for any substantive due process right regarding reproductive rights.

And it wasn’t a stunt. “Democrats pointed to Republican opposition to contraception legislation — including GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin of Virginia vetoing a similar bill last month — as evidence that the effort was necessary” . . . .

In truth, Republicans are coming after all of it. That’s what the so-called fetal personhood bill is all about. The upshot of state measures to protect “fetal personhood” is that not only IVF but many forms of contraception would be at risk because they protect a fertilized egg at any stage.

Senate and House Republicans, like clockwork, routinely introduce “life begins at conception” bills. The House bill has drawn 130 co-sponsors. The Republican Study Committee is on record this year as supporting both a fetal personhood bill and a ban on mifepristone (used to treat miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies).

In other words, protection for access to contraception is necessary when the MAGA-celebrated Dobbs decision effectively removes federal protection and Republicans at both the state and federal level aim at “fetal personhood” bills that would outlaw abortion, IVF and some forms of contraception.

Voters have every reason to fear a GOP-held Congress would pass nationwide abortion ban and “fetal personhood” measures. They know that is true because Republicans continue to press these measures and simultaneously vote to block measures to protect IVF and contraception. And no one seriously believes that if elected on the strength of white Christian evangelicals’ support that Trump would veto such bills.