It’s days like today that make us appreciate irony.

In the same day that Planned Parenthood came out with an ad slamming Cory Gardner over “women’s issues,” he had an op-ed published in The Denver Post endorsing the sale of oral contraception for over-the-counter (OTC) purchases by adults.  Sadly, it appears Planned Parenthood is more concerned with a scorched earth approach when it comes to beating Republicans rather than finding common ground with one.  

This gets at the very essence of what is wrong with gender politics.  The left would prefer to make women’s health a political issue rather than advance policy that would actually benefit women, like selling birth control pills OTC.

Gardner explains the benefits in his op-ed:

Since “the pill” was first approved 44 years ago, it’s been one of the most proven and tested pharmaceuticals of our time. It is safe, reliable, effective, and presents very few risks or complications for the more than 10 million women who use it. When other drugs have that kind of track record, we approve them for purchase without a prescription; the Food and Drug Administration has already reclassified over 100 different treatments. Name-brand drugs like Advil, Pepcid, Claritin, Prilosec and many others were once sold by prescription only, but moved to over-the-counter sale (OTC) once they’d been proven safe and unlikely to be abused.

When treatments go over-the-counter, two things happen: they get dramatically cheaper and consumers save time and hassle by avoiding unnecessary doctors’ appointments just to get the pharmaceuticals they already know they need.

Supporting OTC birth control pills is a bold move by Gardner, and certainly a position that any woman who has ever taken the pill will eagerly agree with. 

Sen. Mark Udall no doubt has steam coming out of his ears right now, as he wonders why he didn’t come out on this issue first.  It will be interesting to see how he ultimately responds given his penchant for following Gardner’s lead on policy.