David Axelrod Calls Out Hypocrisy in Republican Primary Candidates

As someone who's been following the ongoing coverage of contraception under the Affordable Care Act, I was a little surprised by today's New York Times blog post titled the "White House May Look to Compromise on Contraception Decision".

The article quotes David Axelrod, one of Obama's top re-election advisers, saying the president would "look for a way to address vocal opposition from religious groups."

Catholic ministers have been in an uproar regarding the decision that birth control will be considered preventative medicine, and therefor covered at no-cost under the Affordable Care Act.

"In effect, the president is saying we have a year to figure out how to violate our consciences,” said Cardinal-designate Timothy M. Dolan, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

And Mitt Romney is using the issue as a campaign issue, tweeting a link to a petition stating:

"On January 20, 2012, the Obama administration affirmed a rule that would force Roman Catholic hospitals, charities, and universities to purchase health insurance for their employees that includes coverage for contraception, abortifacients, and sterilization, in violation of their religious principles. This is wrong."

Moments of truth here.  Abortifacient is a politically loaded word, used by the right to link contraception (like birth control or the morning after pill) to an actual abortion.  The morning after pill and basic birth control (used by 99% of women) is not an abortion.

Under the new guidelines, no church will be required to hand out condoms or offer birth control to their clergy.  Instead, women of all faiths who already use birth control (and likely pay out of pocket) who happen to be employed by a religious institution (e.g. a nurse at a hospital) will now save around $50 a month.

And 28 states have already mandated this coverage.

"The question is will [women working for a religious employer] have the same package that every other woman in the country has access to in regards to preventative care," said David Axelrod on an episode of MSNBC's Morning Joe.

Rather than backing down, Axelrod stood up against the political attacks from the Republican candidates.

"It's particularly ironic of course given the fact that [Mitt Romney] governed a state where there was such a policy, where he passed a health care plan that provided contraceptive care similar to what we're doing," continued Axelrod.

"One of the states that has this policy with no exemptions is the state of Georgia.  I know speaker Gingrich has lived in Washington for three decades so maybe he didn't know that, but I haven't heard him thunder about Stalinism in Georgia anytime recently."

I'm sure the Obama administration is willing to work with religious conservatives here.  He's already exempted churches and clergy, and provided religious organizations an extra year before these changes take effect.  But I don't see him backing down in the slightest.