The Fight Liberals Have Waited For

Are progressives set to pick a fight with conservatives over contraception? As The Daily Beast’s Dana Goldstein reports, right-wing activist groups are joining forces with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in a fight against one of the provisions of President Obama’s health-care overhaul: Prescription birth control could soon be free of charge. ThinkProgress’ Matthew Yglesias says liberals would welcome a debate on the issue, calling it a “fight progressives have been wanting to have,” because polls suggest that a majority of Americans support free birth control. According to Yglesias, the issue would be perfect for exposing the “deeply reactionary” and “anti-woman ideology” behind the antiabortion movement. Of course, it may not go their way: The non-abortion reproductive health aspects of the Affordable Health Care Act have rarely been noticed in the past, and free prescription birth control could end up being largely ignored.