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Following a debate about healthcare whereby Arizona Republican Senator Jon Kyl lashed out that he did not need maternity care, women's groups quickly went on the offensive, backed heavily by the online gambling sector, which itself has also been the target of Kyl's "insensitive" remarks in the past.
"I don't need maternity care," Kyl said about requirements that would make some pay for maternity coverage. "And so requiring that to be in my insurance policy is something that I don't need and will make the policy more expensive."
Sen. Debbie Stabenow, a Democrat from Michigan, stood up for women across the country, telling Mr. Kyl "I think your mom probably did."
A firestorm has since erupted as a result of Senator Kyl's off-the-cuff comment.
The pro-life group, LifeNews.com, sees things slightly different however.
"Abortion advocates have seized on the comment in an effort to make it appear Kyl, a top pro-life advocate in the Senate, has a problem with women or helping pregnant women," the website says.
Carrie Lukas, writing for the National Review Online, believes that Senator Kyl brings up a valid point.
"When government dictates what insurance policies must contain - whether that is general maternity care or more specific mandates like a two-night stay in hospital for any birth - the cost of insurance goes up," she writes.
Lukas suggests that concern about health care costs (echoed by Senator Kyl) does not necessarily mean he is being insensitive to the needs of pregnant women.
"We can all agree that it's a problem when pregnant women can't afford health care without flocking to support the kind of massive government intervention in the health-insurance market that the Democrats are advancing," she says. "There are far better ways to reform health care to make it better for women."
Perhaps it was the way he responded, with a big smirk on his face and those glaring eyes ripping into Senator Stabenow, that have a nation of women irked.
Kyl's comments have resulted in over 150,000 views on YouTube to date.
One viewer commented:
"I am not basing men, but this is the kind of ignorance that prevails in the US and most of them are made by uneducated men on the issue of women/heath care. The same type of men that said, that we "don't feel pain during menstruation, that it is all in our heads". God, no wonder we are in a laughed at outside of the US because of bad decisions the Senate makes. I cannot stand some of these people that run our country. Where did they get their brains, the Dollar General Store?"
Payton O'Brien, Gambling911.com Senior Editor
