This week’s Daily Evolver looks at the recent election year ruckus concerning the Obama’s administration attempt to get religious-affiliated hospitals and university health centers to pay for contraception. Although the question of whether women should have access to contraception was settled long ago and supported by the majority of women in the United States (including Catholics), in an election year the Republican and Democratic election teams broke out the big guns over the issue of “who pays”. The Obama administration finally offered a compromise that allowed religious-affiliated organizations like the Catholic Church the choice of whether to pay for contraception themselves, or letting the insurance companies pick up the cost.

Normally, the compromise should have settled what was really a regulatory issue, but the media war continues as both sides seek to define the issue of contraception as an advantage for them in an election year. In this Daily Evolver David and Jeff explore why a seemingly minor regulation kicked up such a fuss. What is being worked out in this discussion as it relates to our ongoing evolution?

It’s no secret the more conservative members of the Republican Party are intent on repealing the Obamacare health act. Two of the remaining Republican candidates for president, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum, have vowed to repeal it on day one, while the others, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul, would modify its policies. For liberals, the Republican objections to providing “free” contraception goes right to the heart of their fairness argument concerning poor women. We also discuss what the election year rhetoric surrounding this issue reveals about the current political positions concerning the separation of church and state. The question remains whether Republican men are out of touch with the female electorate concerning this issue, and how that might affect Republican chances to unseat President Obama in the general election.

Listen to an excerpt below. The full audio is here on integrallife.com

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