Democrats have a new rallying cry when it comes to the Obama administration’s hotly contested contraception rule. Thursday, Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) gazed at an all male panel at yesterday’s House Oversight hearing and asked, “Where are the women?” The question is being repeated by Democrats and women’s rights groups as they attempt to shape the narrative of the contraception issue.The Democrats’ new mantra really began before the hearing convened in a fight over witnesses. Democrats on the Committee had pushed for a specific woman to testify in the hearing. This was Sandra Fluke, a law student at Georgetown University Law School, who was asked to discuss contraception as a health care issue. Republicans rejected her as a witness because they didn’t want access to contraception to be raised as an issue, saying she was an “inappropriate” witness on the subject they wanted to talk about: religious freedom. Instead, the GOP invited another Minority witness, Barry Lynn of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State. But Lynn didn’t testify because the Minority had told him they wanted their one allowed witness to be the woman. When the panel convened Thursday morning, Democrats cried foul over a lack of women on the panel. Republicans’ refusal to allow Fluke to testify provided an opening for Democrats to make it a big deal.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=101355