Michelle Obama Courts Women Voters by Touting Free Access to Contraception

By Margaret Talev - Tue Feb 21 05:00:01 GMT 2012 Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images First lady Michelle Obam, center, poses with employees of Gonzalez Northgate Market on Feb. 1, 2012 in Inglewood, California. First lady Michelle Obam, center, poses with employees of Gonzalez Northgate Market on Feb. 1, 2012 in Inglewood, California. Photographer: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images
Michelle Obama is being billed as the featured attraction in house parties her husband’s re- election campaign is organizing around the country tomorrow to try to boost his support among women voters.
The first lady is to appear via conference call at the “Women for Obama” gatherings, President Barack Obama ’s re- election campaign said in an e-mail sent to supporters last night.
Michelle Obama, serving as honorary chairwoman of Women for Obama, will “deliver a message just for us about the progress we’re making together and the work ahead in the months to come,” according to the e-mail, which said that “hearing from the First Lady is sure to get us fired up.”
The women’s house parties come as Michelle Obama is taking a more visible role in her husband’s re-election campaign. She spoke at Democratic Party fundraisers in Los Angeles on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1, while in California for appearances on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno ” and Ellen DeGeneres’ show to promote her “Let’s Move” anti-obesity program.
The house parties also follow the Obama administration’s rule to provide women who work for religious hospitals and universities access to free contraception through their health insurance.
The e-mail mentions access to contraception without a co- pay among the administration’s accomplishments for women, in addition to Obama’s signing of the “Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act” and the 2010 health care overhaul that includes mammogram coverage and a restriction on charging women higher premiums than men.
Catholic bishops and Republican lawmakers and presidential candidates have opposed the contraception rule while women’s advocacy groups embraced it.
Obama has said he didn’t intend for the rule to be used as a wedge issue in the campaign, while NARAL Pro-Choice America, an organization that defends abortion rights, has been airing radio ads in the battleground states of Colorado , Florida , Virginia and Wisconsin, touting the policy as an example of Obama’s commitment to women.
A Feb. 10 compromise Obama offered that would force health insurers, and not church-affiliated charities, to pay for contraceptives for employees of those institutions has shifted the debate away from a religious-freedom argument that carried more political risks for the president. Some church leaders still have concerns because their facilities are self-insured, which could mean they would have to pay the costs.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Steve Komarow at [email protected]