Mike Pence thinks family planning isn't a women's issue, but supports it anyway(?). (Photo: pence.house.gov)

One can only marvel at the sheer audacity of Rep. Mike Pence, the chief sponsor of the bill that would defund Title X. Title X, you might remember, provides family planning and reproductive health funding for low-income individuals. Which Pence has already said has nothing to do with women's health . Apparently getting the woman stuff checked out doesn't count as health care, since men don't have woman stuff and everybody knows that the annual check-up a man gets is the standard for what is and isn't health care.

His latest whopper is that now he really does appreciate the healthcare that Title X clinics provide, and that he has "never advocated reducing funding for Title X." Maybe it's because his bill doesn't "reduce" funding for Title X. It eliminates it.

Recognizing the "important work” such clinics like Planned Parenthood perform “in our inner cities," Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) pushed back against criticism of the House GOP’s plan to gut the program in a recent radio interview, saying he himself has "never advocated reducing funding for Title X": "I’ve never advocated reducing funding for Title X," Pence said during a recent radio interview with the chairman of a county Right to Life organization in his home state. "Title X clinics do important work in our inner cities," Pence said. "They provide health services for women and children that might not otherwise have access to them." As a prominent and influential House Republican, Pence and his defense of Title X may be able to win over the program’s most voracious opponent: Mike Pence. Not only did he successfully pass an amendment to "eliminate the entire Title X program" in February, he is the chief sponsor of the Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act—a bill that would ban those clinics that "do important work" from receiving any federal funds because they may provide abortions.

But wait, you say, the Hyde amendment already prevents any federal funding for abortions. Well, yes, it does. But that's not enough. Those clinics that provide this essential medical service have to be punished because, Pence says, "there’s no question that taxpayer dollars received by Planned Parenthood are used to cover allowed expenses like overhead operational costs, thus freeing up other money for clinics that do provide abortion." If that means that low-income women don't receive the healthcare the pro-Title X Pence supports, the anti-Title X Pence is just fine with that.

Hypocrisy is a hell of a lot easier if you're a Republican.