The intense media debate over the White House push to require all insurance plans to cover contraception is barely 48 hours old. And already some Democrats are bailing on President Obama.
Just like Republicans, Democrats have mixed opinions on choice in their caucus. And pro-life Democrats like Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) have taken a line on the new rule — opposition and concern — in keeping with their views.
But on Wednesday, pro-choice Democrats started coming out in opposition to the new White House edict that the insurance rules follow the example of 28 states and include religious-run health plans at large institutions like hospitals and universities. Former Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine — the past chair of the DNC and now a candidate for U.S. Senate — told a Virginia radio show that he’s opposed to the new White House rules when it comes to religious institutions. Rep. John Larson (CT), a member of the House Democratic leadership with 100% voting score from NARAL, released a letter Wednesday in which he also split with the White House on the contraception rules.
It’s easy to see this as very strange, considering polling that shows an overwhelming number of Americans — including the majority of Catholics — support the White House move, and the idea of increasing access to contraception. Of course, those are national polls, and some strategists wonder if the House GOP has calculated this issue could hit Dems where it hurts: in “blue dog” swing seats with high concentrations of more religious voters.
Rep. Mike Quigley (IL) is one of the few Democrats openly pushing the issue as a both a moral and political victory (as he did in this Tuesday op-ed). He told TPM that while he understands that inserting religion into this argument can lead to a broad range of responses, he said that pro-choice Democrats need to get on board with the White House plan and stay there.
“If you’re pro-choice, the most important thing you need to is be pro-education and [pro-]contraception,” Quigley said. “Even if you’re just thinking so practically and cold-heartedly with, ‘oh, it’s an election year’, you know what? The vast majority of Catholic women want access to birth control, are on birth control and they want free birth control in their plan.”
I spoke to several Democrats in DC charged with getting more Dems elected next fall. None of them were working on the presidential race. And to a person, they said the contraceptive issue will probably not play a major role in the general election. They see the sudden GOP interest in talking about the birth control pill simply as a means for the party to distract from bright economic news. Still, they said they expected Democrats to go their own way on this issue — meaning the White House could face more opposition from both sides of the aisle.
Quigley cautioned his pro-choice colleagues against that.
“Look, this is the right thing to do, and it’s the politically correct thing to do,” he told me. “Rarely do you get both of those on the same page.”
This post has been updated to reflect further comment from the Kaine campaign seen here.
Evan McMorris-Santoro
Evan McMorris-Santoro has covered politics for TPM since 2009. Before that, he was a reporter at National Journal’s Hotline covering election 2008. He started his career covering local politics at newspapers in TN and his native NC.
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