Wednesday, September 09, 2009
McDonnell v. birth control
From the RoundTable blog
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The story rightly reported that McDonnell’s 20-year-old master’s thesis “described the trends of working women and feminism as ‘detrimental to the family’ and argued that public policy should favor married couples over ‘cohabitators, homosexuals and fornicators.’ ”
However, the story failed to report that McDonnell called the 1965 Supreme Court decision to allow married couples to purchase contraceptives without government interference “one of the harshest blows to the American family and traditional morality.”
McDonnell’s statement is relevant not only because more than 90 percent of Virginia women rely upon contraceptives during their reproductive years, but also because, as a legislator, McDonnell has maintained a 100 percent anti-contraception voting record. Moreover, as governor, he would hold enormous power over Virginians’ access to contraception.
In 1997, Virginia passed a law requiring insurance companies to include the option of contraceptive coverage when offering coverage for other prescription drugs. The broadly bipartisan effort passed in the Virginia House of Delegates 86 to 12. Then-Del. McDonnell was among the 12 who sought to deny contraceptive coverage.
In 2002, McDonnell co-sponsored House Bill 563 whereby physicians, pharmacists and nurses could deny providing “any birth control pill” to patients. McDonnell supported a similar bill that was introduced in 2003. Neither became law.
In response to legislative attempts by McDonnell and others to characterize contraception as abortion, Sen. Mary Margaret Whipple introduced the Birth Control Protection Act in 2003. The measure stated that Virginia laws restricting abortion do not pertain to FDA-approved contraceptives. It passed in the Senate with broad bipartisan support before being killed in a House committee on a 9-9 vote. McDonnell was one of the nine who opposed it.
Had McDonnell voted otherwise, the measure would have passed and almost certainly become law. This is significant because later that year, at the prompting of another anti-contraception legislator, James Madison University ceased providing emergency contraception on campus. The crisis threatened to spread to other public universities until Republican Attorney General Jerry Kilgore issued a four-page opinion stating that Virginia’s abortion laws do not pertain to contraception. Would McDonnell have issued a similar opinion had these 2003 events occurred while he was attorney general? One need only look to 2004 when McDonnell voted for House Bill 1414 to prohibit any public college or university from providing emergency contraception.
In 2004, McDonnell also supported House Bill 1403. That measure prohibited minors from accessing emergency contraception unless a parent obtained a written statement from a notary public in advance. The bill further imposed a mandatory waiting period, even for rape or incest victims, a ridiculous provision since emergency contraception is less effective the longer the delay in accessing it.
McDonnell’s voting record as a Virginia legislator is wholly consistent with his earlier writings. There is little doubt that this candidate for governor has maintained an unwavering hostility to women’s access to contraception. Two decades after vilifying contraception in his master’s thesis, McDonnell has remained true to his word.
Each governor of our commonwealth holds enormous sway over contraceptive access for state employees, minors, low-income women, students at public colleges and universities, and even rape victims. The governor oversees millions in federal family planning dollars. The governor maintains control of the Department of Health, which administers millions of federal dollars for contraceptive services among every Virginia municipality.
In 2010, the new governor will control whether Virginia will renew its Medicaid Family Planning Waiver that enables new mothers to extend their Medicaid coverage up to two years after the birth of their children. Moreover, as governor, McDonnell would hold far greater power over legislation restricting contraception than he could as a lone legislator.
The vast majority of Virginia’s women rely upon contraception. Every element of McDonnell’s writings and voting record during the past 20 years consistently indicate his hostility toward women being allowed to voluntarily control their own fertility. McDonnell has yet to have the authority to truly limit contraceptive access. How much power should this one man have?
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