"Back-Alley Vasectomies?"

Those are Rush Limbaugh's words after he heard that Missouri State House member Stacey Newman, a Democrat, frustrated with recent legislative debates over birth control and reproductive health, is proposing to more closely regulate vasectomies.

I got that link from a blog post at the Althouse blog.  She titles the post with a 1916 quote from H L Mencken:

Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.

It would seem that Democrats are having a hay day with this birth control issue.  First we had George Stephanopoulos ask Candidate Mitt Romney about birth control, which Gov Romney told him was a non-issue.  That answer made sense to me.  My Faith says use of artificial birth control is a sin.  That said, it has been decades since SCOTUS has ruled that it is legal to purchase such items and they have come out from under the counter.

Then, the Administration issued new guidelines on paying for birth control, which ignited a lot of dissension from religious leaders—First Amendment and all that.  Just recently the President of the Senate, Mr Joe Biden, was quoted by The Hill as saying:

"The fact of the matter is, the ultimate resolution to this problem is where it should have been in the first place," the vice president said.  "I was the one that was tasked to meet with the National Conference of Bishops, and others and Cardinal [Tim] Dolan, to talk about this."

But, even so, some pressed on, like former Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

I would like to state, before I continue, that two of the words chosen by Mr Rush Limbaugh, last week, to describe the young woman who testified to a rump session of the Rep Issas committee, arranged by former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Ms Sandra Fluke, a student at Georgetown Law School♠ , were unacceptable in polite company and, in fact, brought embarrassment to many of us who otherwise thought that Ms Fluke was over the top in her testimony.  As it turns out, Mr Limbaugh was even more over the top.

Ms Fluke testified that birth control was costing her $1,000 per year or $3,000 over her three years at Georgetown University Law School.  The question Ms Fluke put to the rump subcommittee before which she testified was why some institution (Georgetown) shouldn't pay for her birth control while she was in law school.  With the nation trillions in debt, Ms Fluke wants to create another mandate for spending.  This was presented in terms of women's health, a current Democratic Party theme for warding off the evil Republicans this year.

Over at the Althouse blog, Tim summed up the economics of this, as explained to us before Ms Fluke got involved, by Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Honorable Kathleen Sebelius:

Birth control is too expensive and too complicated for individuals to purchase, so we'll make health insurers cover it, free of charge.  And for those of you concerned about this increasing the cost of your insurance, don't worry.  Birth control is cheap and simple, so this won't increase premiums at all.

As for Ms Fluke, unless she has special problems, $3,000 for three years of birth control is way over the top.  The number is closer to $9 per month, or $324 for three years.  If Ms Fluke is normal and if no one tells my wife, I will cover Ms Fluke's birth control expenses for the three years.

But, the final issue isn't paying for her birth control, but Ms Fluke's reaction to the apology by Mr Limbaugh.  I heard the apology.  Seemed like a pretty good one to me.  I thought, listening to it, that perhaps Mrs Limbaugh had explained to Rush how the cow ate the cabbage.  However, Ms Fluke is not accepting the apology.

I guess if she has already dismissed Mr Limbaugh as a jerk, rejecting the apology is one way to play it, and accepting it, with her own spin, is the other.  The second makes her seem like the bigger person, although she should avoid beers in the Rose Garden with Mr Limbaugh and the President and Veep.

On the other hand, if he really hurt her, rejecting the apology and nursing this wound will not go well for her over the long run.  She might consider talking to her spiritual director.

But, back to the national level issue, it seems to me that the Democratic Party operatives, or perhaps it is the Cook County Contingent, have managed to create out of nothing a major issue that they hope to wield to separate women from the Republican candidates.  They are doing an excellent job.  The Republicans have yet to regain their footing.

As a final note, my middle brother, Lance, who sometimes comments here, has been bugging me for two days about this post and when it is going up.  He is the one who, for Christmas, donates money to some United Nations activity, in my name.  In response, for his recent birthday I told him I was donating money to the Scott Brown campaign in his name.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  It appears that Ms Fluke applied to and accepted admittance to Georgetown Law School fully understanding the position of the Roman Catholic Church on the issue of artificial birth control and that Georgetown was and is a Roman Catholic institution.  It has been suggested Ms Fluke picked Georgetown so she could pick a fight.  On the other hand, Law Professor Ann Althouse tells us that such students are the ones most prized by law schools, smart and with an edge.