Social Sciences Talk

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http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-oped0717kathajul18,0,7539112.story

McCain's take on birth control
Katha Pollitt
July 18, 2008

I realize it's not as world-shaking as the caricature of the Obamas on
the cover of The New Yorker, which has the high-end media in a total
tizzy. It's probably not even as important as the raunchy joke Bernie
Mac told at an Obama fundraiser last week, which was bumped from the
tizzy list by the New Yorker story.

But can't the commentariat take a break from itself and let the world
know how much John McCain opposes birth control? Vastly more people
rely on contraception than read The New Yorker or know who Bernie Mac
is from mac 'n' cheese.

In fact, vastly more people use birth control than believe Obama is a
secret Muslim. They might like to know that when it comes to
contraception, McCain is no maverick.

Here's the story. Last week, Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett-
Packard who has been helping McCain look bright-eyed and estrogen-
friendly, told reporters that women wanted more choice in their health-
care plans. For example, it bothered women when plans covered Viagra
but not contraception.

Big mistake! McCain had voted against a bill that would have required
plans to cover birth control if they covered prescription meds at all,
like, um, Viagra. McCain's non-response when queried about this by a
reporter was astonishing. As you can still see on YouTube, he squirms
and grins and smirks (Viagra! embarrassing!) and fumfers about
evasively.