Karl Rove did his best to shamelessly conflate the morning after pill, which is emergency contraception to prevent pregnancy, which is covered by the recent mandate from the Department of Health and Human Services that has the Catholic Church leadership worked into a frenzy, with the abortion drug RU486.
Rove didn't mention either drug by name during this interview with Greta Van Susteren, but it's obvious to that was exactly what he was doing when he falsely stated that a Catholic doctor or hospital is going to be told by the Obama administration that they have to "be willing to commit abortion" under the new mandate. They're not and he knows it.
He's apparently hoping the viewers don't realize that emergency contraception is just that, contraception and does not induce an abortion. Rove is supposed to be some political genius according to the media, but if he and the GOP think dragging us back to the culture wars of the 1960's and attacking women's right to use birth control is somehow a good idea or will win them any gains among the electorate for the next election, I've got news for him. It's going to backfire.
They already don't care if a single minority voter supports the Republican Party after all the race baiting and attacks on the Hispanic population in America we've seen over the last few years. It seems they're determined to make sure there aren't any women left in their party as well.
Transcript of Rove's hackery below the fold.
ROVE: They justified saying to a Catholic doctor, in a hospital run by Catholic nuns, that you have to be willing to commit abortion, even though the leader of your faith and the doctrine of your church said no.
And so these phony numbers can be concocted on anywhere. But the fundamental... this is how blind they are. They're saying to people we want you to do things which are morally objectionable to you. Let's say you're a Jehovah's witness who's a pacifist. We've had this battle once before in our country. And the Supreme Court upheld the rights of Jehovah's witness who refused to serve in the military because it was fundamental to their faith.
And now we're seeing on an even bigger, broader question, you the Catholic Church, the Catholic university, or the Archdiocese of Philadelphia have to provide insurance coverage that includes and is and is something that runs counter to your deeply held religious beliefs. We have a thing called the Bill of Rights. It guarantees the free expression of religion and here the government is saying you have a right to believe anything you like except if we don't agree with it and we want to justify it on the basis of womens' health, you've got to take your fundamental commitment to life and throw it aside in a casual manner. And this is obnoxious to a lot of people.
I'm not a Catholic. But I feel deeply and keenly about the issue of life and I understand how important it is to the entire thread and morph and weave of the Catholic Church. And the President is saying to the Catholic Church, you don't have any freedom as a religious institution that I cannot trample with an executive order out of the Department of Health and Human Services.
