2/16/12

The anti birth control folks had a pretty rough day

"Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) held hearings on contraception and religious freedom
that produced the now-famous picture of a table full of men
called to weigh in on access to contraceptives.

Democrats wanted a woman
— a Georgetown law student with a friend who lost an ovary
because the university doesn’t cover birth control
— to say her piece at the hearing,
but Issa wouldn’t let her on the panel.

He said she wasn’t “appropriate or qualified” to discuss the topic at hand.

Jaws dropped in the women’s rights community.

“She didn’t have the right credentials?”
NOW President Terry O’Neill scoffed.

“I’m thinking to myself, ‘Buddy, you and your little panel over there
don’t have the right anatomy to talk about birth control.’”

So there you have it: modern women being told
...they’re not qualified to talk about their own sexual health...

...After months of Republican fighting about abortion,
and weeks of the GOP talking about contraception,
...Obama was leading Mitt Romney 65-30 among unmarried women.

...“There’s a deep, righteous anger,”

...“It is very deep-rooted anger and it will be hard for these men now
to avoid that anger because it has struck such a chord.”

TPM