The Road to The Handmaid's Tale.
The Blunt Amendment, which would let any employers opt out of healthcare coverage mandates that violate their religious or moral beliefs, passed the House and was defeated by only three votes. Three Democrats (Manchin, Casey and Nelson (NE)) voted for the Amendment.
Mitt Romney explicitly supports the Blunt Amendment, stating on March 1, 2012: "Of course I support the Blunt amendment." Given Manchin and Casey's likely votes for it, even if there is a narrow Democratic Senate margin, a Blunt Amendment has a good chance of passing, and if Mitt Romney is President, will become law.
Romney is desperately trying to cloud this issue, running ads saying saying: "Romney doesn't oppose contraception at all."
This derives from one of his major lies at the second debate: "I don't believe employers should tell someone whether they have contraceptive care or not. Every woman in America should have access to contraceptives and the president's statement on my policy is completely and totally wrong."
The Romney campaign is trying to weasel out of the lie by claiming that he was not talking about insurance for contraceptives. Nice try. What does this interpretation mean anyway if it doesn't refer to insurance?
Does it mean that employers can't instruct their employees not to use birth control?
That employers can't search their employees bags or briefcases for condoms, IUD's or pills?
That an employer cannot go to an employee's house at night and make sure that she is not using birth control while having sex with her husband?
Any interpretation other than insurance is absurd.
This is a grotesque example of the post-truth campaign of Mitt Romney, in which facts are either disregarded or (as in this case) twisted beyond recognition. Mitt is counting on the phenomenon we saw when people could not believe that any party would propose the Ryan budget. His statements that he doesn't oppose contraception are designed to comfort women who can't believe that someone would permit an employer to deny insurance for contraception
There is no "mythical" moderate Mitt, who would not sign a Blunt Amendment. If he vetoed it, he would be tarred and feathered by the religious right that put him there.
Women should know just how close they are to going down The Handmaid's Tale path of the Blunt Amendment.