Last month, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies advised that health insurers should offer birth control without a copayment, one of a list of recommendations it made for preventative health care services for women. As Jen Quraishi reported earlier this week, the Obama administration has adopted the recommendation and will require insurance companies to cover birth control at no cost.
Anti-abortion groups have been flipping out over whether emergency contraception, or the morning after pill, will be covered, since they believe that this constitutes abortion. But Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) found something even more sinister to be worried about: free birth control will mean no more babies. EVER. Here’s his tirade from earlier this week, via ThinkProgress:
KING: They’ve called it preventative medicine. Preventative medicine. Well if you applied that preventative medicine universally what you end up with is you’ve prevented a generation. Preventing babies from being born is not medicine. That’s not— that’s not constructive to our culture and our civilization. If we let our birth rate get down below replacement rate we’re a dying civilization.
That’s right ladies: it’s your patriotic duty to get knocked up indiscriminately, at least according to Steve King.
King also doesn’t support making sure women get paid equitably, which might help more women afford birth control in the first place. And don’t think about having an abortion should you become pregnant, because King doesn’t like those either. And when you have that kid, don’t even think about applying for public assistance programs, because King thinks that will make you lazy.
Don’t worry about any of that, though! Lie back and think of America!
