Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) said Thursday that Democrats are focusing on social issues to “scare women.”
“The reality is, the Republicans won the women’s vote in 2010, and the Democrats know they have to, they have to win the women’s vote … these are scare tactics to scare women.”
Abortion and birth control have become poplar topics on the campaign trail and in Congress after President Obama unveiled, and then modified, a rule that would require insurance plans to cover birth-control prescriptions and devices.
Appearing on MSNBC’s "Hardball with Chris Matthews," McMorris Rodgers said that saying legislation is anti-women is a standard response from Democrats. Pivoting from a question about conservative legislatures, the lawmaker claimed that Democrats most recently used the “anti-women” claim in response to the House Republican budget released Tuesday.
“The House released its budget yesterday and the criticism that came immediately from the women, Democrat women in the House was that they said it was ‘anti-women.’ You know, that’s when I say this is a distraction from the real issues.”
On "Meet the Press" last Sunday, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) acknowledged that there is a “perception” that Republicans are anti-women resulting from the contraception debate, and that they need to move off the issue.
