President (To Win Colorado) See Full Big Line

(D) Joe Biden*

(R) Donald Trump

80%

20%↓

CO-01 (Denver) See Full Big Line

(D) Diana DeGette*

90%

CO-02 (Boulder-ish) See Full Big Line

(D) Joe Neguse*

90%

CO-03 (West & Southern CO) See Full Big Line

(D) Adam Frisch

(R) Jeff Hurd

(R) Ron Hanks

40%

30%

20%

CO-04 (Northeast-ish Colorado) See Full Big Line

(R) Lauren Boebert

(R) J. Sonnenberg

(R) Ted Harvey

20%↑

15%↑

10%

CO-05 (Colorado Springs) See Full Big Line

(R) Dave Williams

(R) Jeff Crank

(R) Doug Bruce

20%

20%

20%

CO-06 (Aurora) See Full Big Line

(D) Jason Crow*

90%

CO-07 (Jefferson County) See Full Big Line

(D) Brittany Pettersen

85%↑

 

CO-08 (Northern Colo.) See Full Big Line

(D) Yadira Caraveo

(R) Gabe Evans

(R) Janak Joshi

60%↑

40%↑

20%↑

State Senate Majority See Full Big Line

DEMOCRATS

REPUBLICANS

80%

20%

State House Majority See Full Big Line

DEMOCRATS

REPUBLICANS

95%

5%

Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
June 12, 2015 10:43 AM UTC

Gardner Takes OTC Birth Control Con Job Too Far

  • 8 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

Sen. Cory Gardner.
Sen. Cory Gardner.

A story last night from CBS Denver’s Shaun Boyd caught Colorado’s junior Sen. Cory Gardner in a major contradiction with regard to his recent proposal to make some forms of birth control available over the counter. Contraceptives are already required to be covered without cost to patients as part of the Affordable Care Act, but Gardner’s proposal to “encourage” pharmaceutical companies to apply for over the counter status for contraceptives is meant to fulfill a campaign promise from Gardner to make obtaining birth control “easier and cheaper.”

Since it’s hard to be cheaper than free, this claim has always been a little suspect:

“I think this bill is disingenuous,” said NARAL Pro-Choice America spokeswoman Laura Chapin.

Chapin believes the bill would make birth control less accessible because it would be less affordable.

Currently, Pres. Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act requires insurers to cover prescription birth control. Gardner’s bill allows women to use health savings and flex spending accounts if the birth control is over-the-counter. Gardner said women could still get birth control for free by prescription. [Pols emphasis]

That last sentence is where Gardner screws himself, and the reason is simple: Gardner is now relying on the dreaded Affordable Care Act to continue to provide no-copay prescription birth control for women with insurance. That represents a major change from Gardner’s campaign-trail promises, where he claimed a “fix” to Obamacare was needed to allow birth control to be sold over the counter. He never addressed the affordability argument directly back then.

But we do know what Cory Gardner thinks of the Affordable Care Act, don’t we? That would be the same Affordable Care Act that Gardner has voted literally dozens of times to repeal. Understand this: the law that Gardner has voted to repeal over and over is now what he is relying on to refute the charge that his proposal would make birth control less affordable. Does this mean that Gardner is now a supporter of Obamacare’s contraceptive coverage mandate? If so, that is truly national news.

Why, you ask? Because in 2012, Cory Gardner signed what’s become known as the “Scalise Letter,” named for Rep. Steve Scalise of Lousiana, in which a large group of self-identified “pro life” members of Congress demanded that then-Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius suspend the contraceptive coverage requirement of Obamacare:

scalisegardner

Got that, folks? Abortifacient IUDs! Sterilization! Conscience rights! Kevin Lundberg couldn’t have said it better.

There’s just no way around it: in order for Gardner to believe in good faith what he told Shaun Boyd, he can’t still endorse the letter he signed demanding that contraceptive coverage not be mandated by Obamacare. He certainly can’t vote to repeal Obamacare wholesale again, but for Gardner it means more than that as a signatory of the Scalise Letter. Either Cory Gardner has just abandoned a major Republican policy plank, and sold out his fellow “pro-life members of Congress…”

Or “Con Man Cory’s” jig is finally up.

Either way, this is the next question for the next reporter. Please. Ask it.

Comments

8 thoughts on “Gardner Takes OTC Birth Control Con Job Too Far

  1. All very interesting but the people who elected Gardner already knew that he's really anti-choice and always figured his supposed new moderated stance was just wink wink to get votes. Attacking him on choice and birth control didn't defeat him in 2014 and these ho-hum revelations (Seriously. Is anyone supposed to be the tiniest bit surprised by any of this?) aren't going to hurt him much now. Sorry. It's just not the top priority for the majority of Colorado voters and dwelling on nothing but this makes it appear that it's all we've got. It makes it appear we're asking people to care more about this than all the economic issues, as if Gardner's conservative economic views aren't just as bad. They are. Too bad we never hear anything about them from liberals. All we hear is the same old story that never hurt him in 2014 and isn't going to make a dent now.  Next!

      1. I don't know , Moddy. I am not a big fan of Cory, but calling him a dead horse goes a little over the top, doesn't it? Besides, I thought you like the guy…

    1. BC, while you have a point, it is also important to call a lying, two-faced sumbitch like Gardner exactly that, as often as necessary.

      He'll have plenty more wrong-headed votes in many other areas that will show his true colors.  Six years is a long time, so he'll leave quite the slimy trail for us to track for the next election, or when some copy-cat candidates try to employ the same despicable tactics to get elected.

Leave a Comment

Recent Comments


Posts about

Donald Trump
SEE MORE

Posts about

Rep. Lauren Boebert
SEE MORE

Posts about

Rep. Yadira Caraveo
SEE MORE

Posts about

Colorado House
SEE MORE

Posts about

Colorado Senate
SEE MORE

79 readers online now

Newsletter

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to stay in the loop with regular updates!