Mike Huckabee, former Arkansas governor and Republican candidate for president, thinks the Democrats’ view on birth control insults women. Speaking at the Republican National Committee’s winter meeting, Huck shared his ideas about how to win back the women’s vote:

If the Democrats want to insult the women of America by making them believe that they are helpless without Uncle Sugar coming in and providing for them a prescription each month for birth control because they cannot control their libido or their reproductive system without the help of the government, then so be it.

Wow. Does he really believe the Dems (or anyone else) make women think they are helpless? Does he really think we’re just dupes of the Democrats? Does he really think there are women out there rushing to get their monthly dole of birth control pills because their raging sex drives would be unmanageable otherwise? Once again, it’s not the Dems who are insulting women; it’s Republicans like Huckabee who seem to think women in general are incapable of thinking for themselves, of making decisions for themselves. It’s the Republicans who want to dictate to women, to take away their choice and their right to make their own decisions about their health care. It’s Republicans who are waging a war on women and their right to think for themselves and decide for themselves. It’s Republicans who insult and infuriate me with their insistence that they know better than I what’s good and right for me!

Within hours, the Planned Parenthood Action Fund responded with the following statement:

The problem isn’t what Mike Huckabee says – it’s what he and too many other politicians believe. These politicians need a basic anatomy and sex ed course. Birth control is basic, preventive health care for women. It helps women plan their pregnancies and manage their lives, and many women use it for a variety of other medical reasons, including treatment of endometriosis that can lead to infertility. The fact that Mike Huckabee doesn’t understand what birth control does is a perfect illustration of why decisions about birth control should be left to a woman and her doctor, without interference from politicians.

I can’t believe there was actually a time when I briefly thought Huck was an affable, half-way intelligent guy. My bad. He obviously doesn’t understand sex, human biology, or women’s reproduction (or women, period) any better than the other Republicans who keep trying to save us from the “evils” of freely accessible birth control, sex education, and reproductive health care. They all need to stop studying their Bibles and start studying sex education. Their ignorance is far more dangerous than insurance coverage for birth control.