Pelosi: Santorum may need lesson in "birds and bees"
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi had a lesson Wednesday night for the "gentlemen" out there who oppose providing women with access to contraception: "Maybe they need a lesson in birds and bees," she said.
Singling out the staunchly pro-life Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum as an example, Pelosi said she respects others' beliefs - but that there "has to be another way."
"I respect what Mr. Santorum thinks and believes for himself, but I think that it would be wise for the gentlemen to understand, maybe they need a lesson in birds and bees or whatever it is, but there has to be another way," Pelosi said.
Pelosi, in an appearance on Comedy Central's comedy news show "The Colbert Report," touted her support for contraceptive care for women, sparring playfully with comedian Stephen Colbert while emphasizing her belief that the matter is crucial to women's health and family planning.
"It's a women's health issue, which is very important to every family," Pelosi said. "A mother's health and the health of her children, and she and her husband, and their doctor and their god, decide what that is, but it isn't up to five guys sitting around a table in Washington, D.C. to determine what that size and timing will be."
Pelosi was referring to a House Oversight hearing last week on the Obama administration's rule mandating free contraceptive care for employees at religiously-affiliated institutions. The five participants in the first panel were all male. (Two women participated in the second panel.)
"Five guys!" Pelosi cried.
"Aren't guys the ones who should be talking about reproductive rights? Because we're the ones who have the responsibility of telling the lady it's really her responsibility," Colbert quipped.
Laughing, Pelosi said, "you have defined the problem very well."
The former House speaker said she had recognized over the years that a fight over contraception could become an issue in Congress but, she said, people "didn't believe it."
"Rick Santorum and I, we love making babies," the father of three hammed. "What's wrong with that? Why are women so obsessed with controlling their own body?"
(Colbert himself is the youngest of 11 children).
During her appearance on the show, Pelosi struck a deal with Colbert on the DISCLOSE Act, which aims to increase transparency in campaign fundraising: Colbert offered to "throw [his] weight behind" the bill if she promised to try to get members of Congress to appear on his show.
"It's a deal," she said.
