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When a handful of Republican Senate candidates called for oral contraceptives to be sold without a prescription, Democrats cried foul.

Republicans still want to repeal "Obamacare," they said, and insurers generally don't pay for over-the-counter products. Women would end up paying more for over-the-counter contraceptives than they would under the free, mandatory coverage provided under President Barack Obama's 2010 health law, Democrats said.

The Republican pitch to sell select forms of birth control over the counter is "a cynical attempt to mask their larger efforts," said the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. Other critics say Republicans are desperate to narrow the "gender gap," in which women especially young and single women prefer Democratic candidates.

That's the message Democrats are pushing in four states where Republican Senate nominees have endorsed over-the-counter birth control pills: Colorado, North Carolina, Virginia and Minnesota. The stakes are highest in North Carolina and Colorado, where tight races will help decide whether Republicans gain the six new seats they need to control the Senate.

The over-the-counter proposal is something Republicans "are coming up with now to try to take some of the heat off of what they've done," Sen. Kay Hagan, a North Carolina Democrat, said in an interview. "I think women are consistently upset about people playing politics with their health care."

Hagan is competing against Republican challenger Thom Tillis, speaker of the state House. Tillis, a steady critic of "Obamacare," surprised Hagan at a recent debate by calling for over-the-counter sales of oral contraceptives.

It would provide "more options for women for contraception," Tillis said.

Hagan and her allies later noted that Tillis has supported the "personhood" initiative, which would give fertilized human eggs the same rights as adults. He says, however, the initiative shouldn't restrict access to contraceptives, and abortion should be allowed in cases of rape, incest and to save the mother's life.

Democrats also note that Tillis supported the cutoff of state funds to Planned Parenthood, whose clinics provide women's health screenings as well as abortions.

Reproductive rights is also a front-burner issue in Colorado, where first-term Democratic Sen. Mark Udall faces Republican Rep. Cory Gardner. Udall is hammering Gardner for his previous support of a "personhood amendment" to the state constitution.

Read more from the original source:
Senate Races: Democrats Decry Birth Control Plan