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Friday, Dec 14, 2012 12:45 PM UTC

Bobby Jindal: GOP “stupid” on birth control

The likely 2016 presidential candidate argues for the sale of contraception over the counter

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Topics: Bobby Jindal, 2016 Elections, Birth Control, War on women,

Bobby Jindal: GOP Gov. Bobby Jindal (Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster)

Bobby Jindal, the governor of Louisiana and a possible 2016 GOP presidential candidate, endorsed the sale of over-the-counter contraception without a prescription Friday.

In an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, Jindal tried to put an anti-big-government spin on his position, while also moving away from the social conservative wing of the party and addressing a gender gap which hurt Mitt Romney and likely cost Republicans Senate seats in Indiana and Missouri.

Jindal wrote that Republicans have been “stupid to let the Democrats demagogue the contraceptives issue,” while embracing the  American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists call for over-the-counter sales and seeking to push the issue out of the “political arena.

Let’s ask the question: Why do women have to go see a doctor before they buy birth control? There are two answers. First, because big government says they should, even though requiring a doctor visit to get a drug that research shows is safe helps drive up health-care costs. Second, because big pharmaceutical companies benefit from it. They know that prices would be driven down if the companies had to compete in the marketplace once their contraceptives were sold over the counter.

Jindal, who is pro-life, added that “anyone who has a religious objection to contraception should not be forced by government health-care edicts to purchase it for others. And parents who believe, as I do, that their teenage children shouldn’t be involved with sex at all do not deserve ridicule.”

 

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David Daley is the executive editor of Salon. More David Daley.

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