7-11-08, 11:34 am

Double talk or simply uninformed? This week when a reporter asked Republican nominee John McCain whether it was fair for insurance companies to cover Viagra but not prescription contraceptives, John McCain awkwardly paused and then said, “I don’t know enough about it to give you an informed answer.”

He added, “It's something that I had not thought much about.”

McCain’s uninformed response prompted Planned Parenthood Action Fund President Cecile Richards to say, “Time after time, Sen. McCain has shown that he is out of touch when it comes to women’s health care.”

Richards noted McCain’s failure to address women’s health issues adequately. “Birth control is basic health care for women,” she said. “Sen. McCain ducked a straightforward question about whether he thinks insurance companies should cover birth control. Women in America are still waiting for his answer.”

McCain’s hesitance to give the reporter a straightforward answer contradicts his record on the issue, Richards noted. “When Sen. McCain was asked to vote on insurance coverage of affordable birth control, he had an answer: NO,” she recalled. “By voting against insurance coverage of birth control, Sen. McCain is denying women affordable access to basic health care.”

Only 27 states have laws mandating that insurance companies who cover prescriptions to also cover FDA-approved birth control. There is no federal law that does this.

According to recent studies, 98% of sexually active women use some form of birth control, but pay out-of-pocket expenses as much as two-thirds more than men for health-related supplies like contraceptives.

A federal law that mandates equity in coverage would help reduce this lack of parity. But John McCain has voted against the idea, and won’t or can’t even say where he stands on it.

This isn’t the first time, however, that McCain has fudged his record and his views on women’s health issues. During the Republican primary campaign, McCain secured key endorsements from hard right Republican Party religious leaders like John Hagee and James Dobson when he asserted his support for overturning Roe v. Wade and appointing federal judges who would do so.

Earlier this month, though, McCain’s top adviser Carly Fiorina said that McCain 'has never signed on to efforts to overturn Roe v. Wade.'

Sounds like a load of double talk.

--Reach Joel Wendland at