Rick Santorum’s three-state victory comes after a week of heavy Republican campaigning against a new Obama administration rule requiring health insurance plans, including those provided by Catholic-affiliated hospitals and universities, to offer free birth control methods. Reproductive rights groups have hailed the measure, which was fueled by research showing birth control is necessary for women’s health and well-being. The row over contraceptives comes as a top official at the breast cancer charity Komen has resigned after a controversial decision to defund Planned Parenthood backfires. We look at how reproductive rights could become major issues in the 2012 race with three guests: Michael Brendan Dougherty of Business Insider and The American Conservative, Loretta Ross of the SisterSong Reproductive Justice Collective, and Jon O’Brien of Catholics for Choice.
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