At least one GOP presidential hopeful opposes the recent government action that requires health insurance companies to provide women with free birth control. Pro-life politician Rick Santorum said that contraception leads to more casual sex, promiscuity, sexually transmitted diseases and abortion. And he’s willing to make a case against it.
“For the federal government to be supporting that, I think is wrong, and I’ll make that case,” Santorum said during a stop in Iowa on Thursday. “We don’t need to fund a lot of issues that the federal government sees to their way to promote sexual freedom. That’s the agenda of the Left because they understand that promoting sexual freedom undermines traditional values, undermines family, undermines the moral, cultural basis of our country. And I’m not going to be a part of that. ”
On Monday, the required health plan coverage guidelines were released for women’s preventative services. On Thursday, Republican presidential candidate Santorum took his stand on the issue, saying, “Under ObamaCare, the federal government recently said they are requiring all health plans to carry contraception, all to carry the morning-after pill, Plan B. Obama said we’re not going to have abortion as part of health care. Now, he’s saying Plan B, which is an abortifacient, is now going to be required in every health plan.”
Plan B One-Step is an emergency contraception similar to birth control. According to Plan B’s FAQs, it works by: “preventing ovulation; possibly preventing fertilization by altering tubular transport of sperm and/or egg; and altering the endometrium, which may inhibit implantation.”
In 1996, Santorum led the debate on a bill to ban partial-birth abortion.
The former Penn. senator said, “Sixty percent of abortions in America are a result of failed contraception. The idea that somehow contraception stops abortion is ridiculous. It leads to more casual sex is what it leads to. It leads to more promiscuity. It leads to more sexually transmitted diseases.”
The new federal guidelines, approved by the U.S. health department, require insurance companies to cover birth control more than birth control. Other preventative services include human papillomavirus testing, breastfeeding support, supplies and counseling, and other preventative health care services.