Fact Check for Dino's detractors and supporters alike, cut and pasted, unedited and no emphasis added from his own website:
Claim: Dino wants to limit access to emergency contraception for victims of sexual assault.
Fact: This claim is false. While in the Washington State Senate, Rossi was one of only a few Republicans senators who voted in favor of a bill (SSB 6537 in 2002) to require hospitals to provide emergency contraception to any sexual assault victim who requested it within 72 hours of sexual contact.
Christine Gregoire continues to play politics with people in desperate situations in this misleading ad against Dino Rossi. There has never been an access problem to emergency contraception in Washington.
Dino Rossi does not believe the state should be telling business what they should and shouldn’t sell. In fact, Dino agrees with the Federal Court ruling, as well as the original ruling by the Washington State Board of Pharmacy, that upholds the conscience clause that has always existed for pharmacists.
Claim: Rossi opposes a woman’s right to choose.
Fact: Dino is Catholic and believes that every soul has a value. For him, this is an issue of conscience, and he’s not going to compromise his views just to be elected.
As a state senator he never sponsored legislation, or even an amendment, on this issue. Washington state voters decided to make it legal and they have reaffirmed that decision several times since. State law is not going to change unless the voters change their minds.
"I'm not running on that issue; I never have," [Rossi] said. "People have voted on that, and I don't think it's going to change." (Spokesman Review, 7/14/08)
Claim: Rossi voted to allow insurance companies to refuse to pay for contraception.
Fact: Dino Rossi supports a woman’s right to use contraceptives.
“As for birth control, which Rossi's critics are trying to raise as an issue, people are free to use it ‘and it's going to remain that way,’ he said.” (Spokesman Review, 7/14/08)
The issue was cost of health insurance – not contraception. The reason we have one of the highest costs for health insurance in America is that the state government has mandated a host of coverages that are required to be sold with every policy. Every mandate means that the cost of your health insurance policy is higher. He does not support forcing health care consumers to buy services they don’t need. For example, in Washington a single male is forced to purchase a health care plan that covers maternity care.
We need to reduce the number of costly regulations and mandates, not expand them. Individuals have different needs when it comes to their own personal health care, and it is appropriate to give people options about what health insurance plan works best for them.
The Seattle Times Endorsed Rossi for Governor:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorialsopinion/2008279880_edit19rossiendorse.html
Posted by: Peter | October 18, 2008 at 08:37 AM