Highlights: At the Louisiana Right to Life Forum on Nov. 15, 2013, Mike Johnson — still lawyer, and not yet a public official — spoke about his efforts challenging the Department of Health and Human Services’ contraceptive mandate, a provision of the Affordable Care Act that required employers to provide birth control coverage as part of their insurance plans.
“Everybody asks us all the time: ‘Why do you guys care so much? The HHS mandate it’s really just about contraception, sterilization. … What’s the big deal? Well, those are abortifacients,” Johnson says. “The morning after pill, as we know, is an abortifacient.”
Neither sterilization or emergency contraception medications like Plan B, are abortifacients.
Johnson is known for being among the most anti-abortion lawmakers in Congress, and for railing against the use of “abortion as a form of birth control” before he was in office.
As a lawyer, Johnson worked on multiple cases representing plaintiffs who refused to dispense, counsel, or provide emergency contraception, which they considered to be abortion-inducing drugs.
His position places Johnson outside the mainstream: According to an Economist/YouGov poll conducted last year, 91 percent of voters believe birth control should be made free and widely available if abortion is not — including 61 percent of voters who oppose abortion.
At the time Johnson equated emergency contraception with abortion at the Louisiana Right to Life Forum, he was part of the legal team representing Louisiana College. The small Christian college, based in Pineville, was suing Kathleen Sebelius, then secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, over the ACA requirement that the college provide birth control coverage for its employees. The school, according to the lawsuit, objected to providing “so-called ‘emergency contraceptives’” that they claimed “cause early abortions.”
Years earlier, Johnson was a lawyer for the right-wing religious litigation shop Alliance Defense Fund, later rechristened the Alliance Defending Freedom. While working for the ADF, Johnson represented Toni Lemly, a Louisiana nurse who refused to dispense emergency contraception — or even tell patients about the medication.
Since arriving in Congress, Johnson has continued to champion these views. He supported a rule that allowed health care workers with a “religious or conscience” objection to providing birth control or sterilization to refuse to participate in those procedures.
“Hey, we’re not interested in going after abortions,”
* proceeds to ban abortions every way they can.
“We’re not interest in banning birth control”
* proceeds to try and ban birthcontrol
“It’s for the kids”
* proceeds to fuck the kids. Literally.yeah. At what point do we start calling Republican’s “the Opposite Party”?
At what point do we start calling Republican’s “the Opposite Party”?
About 40 years ago.
this explains why I missed it.
What’s old is new again- even if they’ve always been hypocrites… we’re never as original in our insults…
I got a new IUD last year for fear this kind of bullshit would happen.
I cannot wait until my ovaries shrivel up into a raisin. Or whatever they do when they announces they’re ready to retire. That. I want that.
Nationalist Christian: Nat-C.
We must defeat this evil man and all those like him
I am terrified that birth control will be outlawed. I have endometriosis and get a lot of ovarian cysts. My birth control is the only thing keeping those conditions in check. Thankfully, my gynecological specialist isn’t opposed to a hysterectomy if needed in the future. I’d be willing to go into medical debt for the rest of my life if birth control becomes illegal.
I’ll put money on a GOP plank in 30 years being repeal of the 19th amendment.
Are you kidding? Unless they’re stopped, by 30 years from now they’ll be going after the 13th!
How cute. 30 years.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
At the Louisiana Right to Life Forum on Nov. 15, 2013, Mike Johnson — still lawyer, and not yet a public official — spoke about his efforts challenging the Department of Health and Human Services’ contraceptive mandate, a provision of the Affordable Care Act that required employers to provide birth control coverage as part of their insurance plans.
As a lawyer, Johnson worked on multiple cases representing plaintiffs who refused to dispense, counsel, or provide emergency contraception, which they considered to be abortion-inducing drugs.
And as a congressman, Johnson has repeatedly voted against efforts to expand, fund, or protect access to birth control and other family planning services — including for members of the military.
While working for the ADF, Johnson represented Toni Lemly, a Louisiana nurse who refused to dispense emergency contraception — or even tell patients about the medication.
He supported a rule that allowed health care workers with a “religious or conscience” objection to providing birth control or sterilization to refuse to participate in those procedures.
He also voted against the Right to Contraception Act, which would have protected access to birth control, and participated in a number of legislative efforts to keep the bill from getting to the floor.
The original article contains 802 words, the summary contains 199 words. Saved 75%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
