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The Obama Watch
Obama’s Plan B Two-Step
The politics behind his sudden paternalism about over-the-counter abortifacients.
In 2008, Barack Obama was asked to explain his support for contraceptive-based sex education. He replied: “I’ve got two daughters, 9 years old and 6 years old. I am going to teach them first of all about values and morals. But if they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby…”
Last week, he invoked his daughters again in the context of contraceptives and abortifacients, but this time to strike an ostensibly conservative stance against easy access to them. “I will say this, as the father of two young daughters: I think it is important for us to make sure that, you know, we apply some common sense to various rules when it comes to over-the-counter medicine,” he said.
Obama was backing up the supposedly independent decision of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to reject the FDA’s approval of over-the-counter purchases by minors of Plan B One-Step, an emergency contraceptive and abortifacient. Obama said that as a parent it troubles him to imagine minors picking it up alongside “bubble gum” and “batteries.”
Liberal groups are outraged by this decision and dismayed by Obama’s sudden paternalism. They see in it an election-conscious Plan B two step; he simply wants to take an issue away from the Republicans next year. Had George W. Bush’s HHS overruled the FDA on this matter, they note, Obama would have been the first to denounce it as “anti-science.”
In 2009, Obama had made a show of signing a memorandum that gave government scientists immunity from politics. “This Order is an important step in advancing the cause of science in America. But let’s be clear: promoting science isn’t just about providing resources — it is also about protecting free and open inquiry,” he said at the memo signing. “It is about letting scientists like those here today do their jobs, free from manipulation or coercion, and listening to what they tell us, even when it’s inconvenient - especially when it’s inconvenient.”
But for all this bluster the FDA’s decision proved too inconvenient for him. What scares him is not the thought of minors buying abortifacients with their bubble gum but Republicans turning that scenario into an attack ad.
Sebelius was clearly put up to the decision. Despite his words of support, Obama made sure to leave her holding the bag; he insisted to the press that she decided the matter all on her own. Consequently, she now holds a distinction dreaded by any liberal: she is the first HHS Secretary to veto a ruling by the FDA. Since she normally reveres FDA scientists, her stated scientific opposition to their decision — she vaguely asserted in a press release that they didn’t prove their case — can’t be taken seriously. Nor do grounds exist for thinking that morality drove the decision; Sebelius, contrary to Obama’s spinning, didn’t say a word about concern over parental anxieties in her veto announcement.
Moreover, Sebelius has a long record in opposition to parental consent and notification laws. She has never objected to minors obtaining abortifacients without parental knowledge before, and even now she doesn’t object to minors obtaining prescriptions for them through doctors. So whatever quibble she has with the FDA’s decision is wholly political.
Obama says that her veto rests upon “common sense.” That’s his euphemism for political circumspection. Just as he knows it is not quite safe yet politically to endorse gay marriage openly, so he hesitates before approving of over-the-counter abortifacients for minors. To scoop up independent voters next year, he knows that he has to cast himself as a moderate, no matter how ludicrous this stance appears next to his record.
Insisting that doctors, rather than CVS clerks, guide minors to abortifacients constitutes credible proof of moderation in his mind. Republicans, skittish about social issues themselves, will probably let him get away with this charade.
His citing of parental concerns is utterly phony, since he doesn’t think parents should have any say over the abortifacient prescription the doctor gives the child. Also, it bears repeating that as a state senator in Illinois and then a U.S. Senator he always voted against parental consent laws. Even mere parental notification was too much for him. He wanted an America free of such retrograde restrictions, a revivified country whose liberated daughters would be the spared the shackles of a baby.
About the Author
George Neumayr, a contributing editor to The American Spectator, is co-author, with Phyllis Schlafly, of the new book, No Higher Power: Obama’s War on Religious Freedom.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (12) | Leave a comment
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Rob | 12.15.11 @ 6:24AM
Yes, it was definitely political. Besides the fact that they made the right decision, be it political or not, there's a brighter light to look at here. They realize that the majority of the public would be outraged... a majority.
Timothy L. Pennell| 12.15.11 @ 7:46AM
Where would we be, if this Narcissist cared as much about US, as he does about HIMSELF? What if he did things for the Good of the Country? What if, instead of "REWARDING HIS FRIENDS" in the Public Sector Unions with all that Money from his Stimulus/Slush Fund, he had actually used it for WHAT HE SAID he was gonna use it for? Think of all the JOBS there would have been, if he had just KEPT HIS WORD?
New Roads and Bridges need a lot of Workers, if they're gonna get built. And, New Electrical Grids? I can't even imagine how many THOUSANDS of people that takes. But, that didn't happen. None of those Jobs were CREATED, even though he's "Focused like a Laser Beam on Jobs". Instead, he SAVED the Union's Jobs. ("We REWARD our Friends and PUNISH our Enemies.") Unions pay Dues. Dues go to Union Leaders (The ones NOT in Federal Prison) Union Leaders Skim Millions of those Dollars, and send them back to Obama. The only Job Stimulated, is his.
The Drilling Moratorium was Political. No Nuclear Plants was Political. Tearing up already Approved Coal Mining Leases was Political. Shutting of Mining for Metals, out West, was Political. Refusing Water to Farmers in California, was Political. Pushing FOR over the counter Birth Control was Political. And, now, being against it is Political.
Besides. If young girls, 10 - 11 - 12 - get Knocked Up, what's the problem? The DEMOCRATS, a long time ago, saw to it that they can go to their School Nurse (Elementary or other) and be Driven to an Abortion Clinic (Across State Borders if need be) WITHOUT their Parent's Permission. They can't have an ASPIRIN, without their Parent's Permission. They can only have Abortions. Also POLITICAL.
SIEG HEIL!
JimH| 12.15.11 @ 8:15AM
Is it just possible that as his daughters grow up the One might be catching wise? Nah.
TexasTele| 12.15.11 @ 8:24AM
My bet is that planned parenthoold and the money-making abortion groups wanted it stopped because it cuts into their abortion business. If you can take a pill and not have to have an abortion, that hurts their business. Democrats back up their contributors, and the abortion business contributes to democrats. I am surprised nobody saw this but me.
bill| 12.15.11 @ 9:53AM
Obama needs to have a plan "C." That is what he must do when he kicked out of the Oval Office in 2012.
Adios Amigo.
hk| 12.15.11 @ 10:22AM
I think they canned it because the manufacturer is an Israeli company.
richard ryan| 12.15.11 @ 12:20PM
The FDA is a joke, a miserable group of weasels who are responsible for most of the DRUG SHORTAGES we now face in this country. These abortive medications are serious drugs that need to be prescribed by a PHYSICIAN. Obama sickens me with his lack of conviction and courage. I can tolerate a true socialist who isn't afraid to speak their mind, but this guy pretends to be just a regular guy, helping out the "folks". He is despicable.
MikeN| 12.15.11 @ 5:52PM
This is way off. Sebelius won awards from Planned Parenthood in Kansas, keeping George Tiller and Planned Parenthood out of jail by getting Phil Kline defeated as attorney general. So of course she will take the position of not taking away business from abortion providers.
Also, scientifically, the 'common sense' explanation is very reasonable. Looking at the FDA scientific conclusions, and the reasons why the Bush head of the FDA overruled them, I say the science is wrong, and probably being politicized. Specifically, the likelihood that if this is sold over the counter vs a prescription, would make no difference on whether the girl sees a doctor as required by the drug.
john dubose| 12.15.11 @ 7:08PM
Any woman of wealth can already get a morning after pill. If it is allowed over the counter and generic, practically any one can get it. Horrors !
rhoetus| 12.15.11 @ 7:37PM
Abort the Obama administration. Which failed policies are you willing to fund out of your wealth/income in perpetuity? The debt is now over 15 trillion plus the unfunded liabilities in Medicare and Social Security. Are you going to let the AARP determine the issues? Vote for Ron Paul.
POST American| 12.15.11 @ 10:40PM
-----CUT TO THE CHASE!
News breaks that New Haven, New York
and elsewhere is giving the right to vote
to NON-citizens----all at the prompting of
the Federal Justice Dept.
This is the opening salvo of getting the
entire 30 MILLION illegal immigrant
population voting.
And so, the Globalist RED China sellout
and TREASON OP ---covers itself with
CHAOS.
"Understand, if you we don't wake up
to the reality that the unthinkable has
ALREADY been done to us
-------------------------WE'RE FINISHED."
--------------------UNDERSTAND----------------------
Brian| 12.15.11 @ 11:48PM
After the election Obama will change the ruling. I expect him to commute all death sentences and pardon a million drug dealers as well.