IN RETROSPECT

Murkowski Regrets Contraception Vote

Had intended to support religious freedom.

It’s too late now, but Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) would have voted differently on contraception if she could do it all over again. In an interview with Anchorage Daily News, Murkowski said she wouldn’t have voted in favor of Roy Blunt’s amendment if she could go back in time, and that she’d taken heat from Alaska women for supporting it. “I have never had a vote I’ve taken where I have felt that I let down more people that believed in me,” Murkowski said. Blunt’s amendment would have allowed employers to opt out of providing birth control or any coverage mandate on moral or religious grounds. Murkowski had intended to make a statement on religious freedom, not against contraception coverage for women. She said Blunt’s amendment was a “messaging amendment” that “both sides know is not going to pass.” The Senate voted 51–48 against the amendment, with Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) the only Republican who voted against it.