Our nation's bizarre debate over contraception, prenatal tests and cancer screenings raises a question: Are Republicans in 2012 intent on running with the platform that American women should be kept barefoot and pregnant?

The theme on the GOP campaign trail seems to be cementing discrimination against gays and lesbians (using the U.S. Constitution to ban same-sex marriage) while rolling back the rights and access of women to birth control and abortion.

These culture warriors may be cruising for a devastating battlefield defeat in the November election. They deserve it.

Access to "the pill" in America seemed resolved, more than 45 years ago, with the Griswold v. Connecticult ruling in which the U.S. Supreme Court defined for the first time an individual American's right of privacy and tossed out the Nutmeg State's ban on artificial contraception.

Roger and Jean Leed, Episcopalians, future Seattle residents and environmentalists, were plaintiffs in the Connecticut case. The Supremes' ruling was drafted by Justice William O. Douglas, son of Yakima and summertime resident of Goose Prairie in the Cascades.

In Congress, GOP Rep. George H.W. Bush of Texas argued that the federal government should fund birth control for poor women. "If family planning is anything, it is a public health matter," said the future President.

Now, in the 21st Century, ex-Sen. Rick Santorum is denouncing the pill.