Bera's Wife Slams Birth Control Hearings, Urges Vote For Husband

We got an email late last week from Janine Bera, wife of Ami Bera, the Elk Grove doctor and Democrat who's running against U.S. Rep. Dan Lungren in the 3rd Congressional District.

In the message—presumably sent to women on the Bera campaign's email list—Mrs. Bera, who is also a physician, expressed her outrage at the hearings on birth control coverage that unfolded Thursday on Capitol Hill. Republicans and religious leaders are protesting President Obama's plan to require that health insurance companies provide free contraceptives to women. It's an issue affecting most women of childbearing age who enjoy sex but don't plan to have children in the near future—which is to say, a whole lot of women.

Bera was upset that the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform convened a panel made up entirely of men.

"I was outraged as a mother of a young woman, to know that our leaders are willing to play politics with my daughter’s health to score a few political points with their party’s most extreme members," Bera wrote. (The full email appears below.)

Bera also offered a solution: Vote for her husband, a "guy who gets it."

While the birth control debate is drawing a lot of attention, we wonder whether women reading the message will buy that electing Ami Bera is the answer.

Here's Bera's email:

Dear Felicia,

When I turned on the news this morning and saw the Congressional panel hearing testimony on birth control coverage, I was outraged.

I was outraged as a woman to see that every single member of the panel was a man. In fact, Republican leaders expressly turned a woman away, claiming she was “not an appropriate witness”.

I was outraged as a mother of a young woman, to know that our leaders are willing to play politics with my daughter’s health to score a few political points with their party’s most extreme members.

I was outraged as a doctor to know that Republican leaders are continuing to put their narrow, radical values ahead of the health and safety of millions of women.

And I am hopeful that we can change American politics for the better this fall with a pro-choice leader who gets it.

But we can’t do it without your help.

If you are as outraged as I am by the picture Republican politicians are painting in Washington, please join me  in supporting my husband, Dr. Ami Bera for Congress. Trust me, he’s one guy who gets it as a doctor, a father, and a pro-choice candidate.

If you believe, as I do, that we can do better – for ourselves, for our children, for our nation – join me as we tell Washington to put politics aside and do what’s right for the health and safety of every woman in this nation.

Thank you so much for your ongoing support,

Dr. Janine Bera  

P.S. Please don’t wait. Congress needs leaders like my husband to stop the assault on women. Click here to contribute today.

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