I'm providing the link directly to the source, not coverage of this one.

The White House wants to redefine abortion as anything that could prevent a fertilized egg from implanting and surviving (starts around page 16). Under these rules, the list of things that would become abortion start with birth control pills, IUDs, Plan B, hell, spermicidal jelly since that's not exactly good for the eggs either.

So, a couple of questions. First, why are they doing this, and why now? The only answer I can see is they are trying to shore up McCain with the base, because this going through would be rejected immediately by an incoming Democratic president, while McCain could leave it in place. Were this a "real" priority, they could have done this 7 years ago. They did not.

So what would still be allowed? Plain condoms, no spermicide. I would have added diaphragms and (thank you Seinfeld) the sponge, but most diaphragms use a spermicidal sealant, and the sponge is soaked in the stuff.

This is a response to the rules passed in Illinois last year that required pharmacies to distribute things like Plan B, even over pharmacist objection. Refusal to fill prescriptions on "moral grounds" was considered harmful to the populace, as there was no end to where it could have gone (painkillers are "evil drugs" etc.). Those sorts of issues are mentioned on pages 8 and 9.

This is not just pandering, this is fundamentally offensive. This is the White House telling me how to live my life, under rules that do nothing to address any ill, merely to impose someone else's religious views on me and every other person in this country.

The bottom line effects? Every insurance company in the country can chop all of this from anything they have to cover, passing the cost to us. Pharmacies can refuse service, eliminating pregnancy prevention as an option. Provision of birth control to minors, becomes in many states, prosecutable because it is no longer preventing pregnancy, it becomes performing an abortion.

Madame Speaker? Impeach this President.