Contraception battle flares on two fronts

Politico: Carolyn Maloney, Eleanor Holmes Norton Walk Out Of Contraception Hearing

Two female Democrats walked out of a House oversight committee hearing on the contraceptive coverage rule Thursday morning, accusing Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) of manipulating committee rules to block female witnesses from testifying. "What I want to know is, where are the women?" asked Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) before walking out. "I look at this panel [of witnesses], and I don't see one single individual representing the tens of millions of women across the country who want and need insurance coverage for basic preventive health care services, including family planning" (Feder, 2/16).

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) slammed Republicans for holding a nearly all-male hearing Thursday about the White House's birth-control mandate while Democratic women on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee staged a walk-out. "Imagine they're having a panel on women's health, and they don't have any women on the panel – duh!" Pelosi said during a press briefing in the Capitol. (Baker and Lillis, 2/16).

Politico: Foster Friess: In my day, 'gals' put aspirin 'between their knees' for contraception

Foster Friess, the mega donor behind the pro-Rick Santorum Super PAC, [appeared on MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell Reports Thursday afternoon.] He said: "On this contraceptive thing, my gosh it's such [sic] inexpensive...You know, back in my days, they used Bayer aspirin for contraception. The gals put it between their knees, and it wasn't that costly." Host Mitchell interjected, "Excuse me, I'm just trying to catch my breath from that, Mr. Friess, frankly," she said after a long pause. "Let's change the subject." (Hohmann, 2/16).

The MSNBC video is here.