Congressman King, Vilsack Attack on Birth Control and Health Care

Christie Vilsack's campaign said today that Congressman Steve King needs to take a stance on access to contraception. And King's campaign said Monday that Vilsack seemed to change her mind on supporting Obama's Affordable Health Care Act. Vilsack and King hope to take Iowa's new 4th District seat Nov. 6.

King, R-Kiron, said during a recent television WHO Insiders interview that he has never taken a stance on banning birth control, but was simply explaining that in 1965, Connecticut had banned birth control sales even to married couples and the Supreme Court overturned the prohibition saying that it was an invasion of privacy.

“That's another misconception, that's been perpetrated by the Vilsack campaign” King said. “I'm not taking a position on the sale of contraceptions at all.”

However he did seem to oppose forcing all health care plans to cover the costs of birth control in a statement he made on the House floor in 2011. He said preventing birth wasn't medicine.

“If you applied that preventative medicine universally what you end up with is you’ve prevented a generation. Preventing babies from being born is not medicine. That’s not — that’s not constructive to our culture and our civilization. If we let our birth rate get down below replacement rate we’re a dying civilization,” King said as first reported by Salon.com

Vilsack's campaign said King should explain his position.

“His refusal to take any position at all on contraception should raise serious doubts among voters who, regardless of party, believe families should have access to contraception and have the ability to plan their families,” the campaign said in a statement.

Steve King's campaign also on Monday, called out Vilsack for saying that she probably would have voted against the affordable health care act on the same WHO-TV program. Previously she said she didn't want to discuss how she would have voted on something since she wasn't in Congress at the time.

She has told the Ames Tribune in the past that she was against the health care mandate.

And in a forum with Ames High School students last week Vilsack, an Ames Democrat, said that it's time to move forward and focus on making care more affordable and accessible rather than repealing Obamacare completely as King has tried to do 33 times.

“The Affordable Care act is a great first step,” Vilsack told students.