I stand with President Obama on his administration’s rule on contraception. I stand with the millions of women across America who use contraception. I stand with the 98 percent of catholic women who use contraception.

Telling religious affiliated organizations, not churches, to provide contraception coverage to their employees is not a war on religion. It’s a common sense fix to an issue for women who spend hundreds each year on birth control.

No one is forcing birth control down anyone’s throat; simply covering contraception for people who use it is not a war on religious freedom. Religious freedom goes both ways. Religious organizations should not force their views on birth control down their employees’ throats.

This debate is not about religious freedom. It’s about women’s reproductive healthcare. This is a debate purely driven by Republican politicians to cover the lack of legislating they are doing on jobs. I say this because Republicans started their war on women’s reproductive health last year when they took control of the House of Representatives.

What did they do when they took control of the House? They wasted no time fighting the advances Democrats have made on women’s reproductive healthcare. In their first 200 days they introduced bill after bill limiting access to reproductive healthcare for women.

Republicans introduced bills such as HR3, which tried to redefine rape. According to Republican lawmakers, a rape is only really rape if it involves force.

Republicans have declared war on women and Planned Parenthood, an organization that provides reproductive healthcare to women, men and teens. Each year they provide nearly 3 million women, men and teens with healthcare and contraception education.

Why would Republicans care about this? It’s because they believe in legislating people’s reproductive health and Obama’s Contraception Rule is a tool they are using to limit access for women who need birth control.

The good thing that comes out of this debate is the majority of Americans are on the president’s side of this issue. They agree with Obama that women’s reproductive healthcare is not a political game. It’s not a political issue and shouldn’t be used to gain votes.

Republicans were up in arms over this because it plays to their extreme base.

I hope the Republican Party gets it soon: you can’t control people’s reproductive healthcare. We don’t live in the 1950s. I think they forget that society progresses.