MSNBC "The Rachel Maddow Show" - Transcript

Interview

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Representative Schakowsky, thanks very much for joining us. It`s nice to have you here.

REP. JAN SCHAKOWSKY (D), ILLINOIS: Thank you. And I`m awfully glad you were born, Rachel.

MADDOW: Thank you. I sort of feel like that should become a generic greeting in America now. Nice to see you. I`m glad you were born.

SCHAKOWSKY: That`s right.

MADDOW: In any case, since this issue has blown up so hugely in the media, are you hearing from your constituents on this issue, what are you hearing from people?

SCHAKOWSKY: You know, Rachel, it is so astonishing to me that in 2012, we`re actually having to defend the right of women to have contraception when virtually 100 percent of women who are sexually active
in their lifetime use contraception. The case is closed. The deal is done.

We -- all women expect to have access to contraception, and the great thing about what the Obama administration said, that no matter where they work, they should be able to get this, with no co-pay because contraception can be expensive. And you know, I think for women this is just not an
issue, except for a few women, who want to go along with a narrow band of bishops, who actually have said, this Anthony Picarello (ph). He said, no employer should have to provide contraception. He says if he leaves being director of the bishops and he wants to open a Taco Bell, that he shouldn`t have to be able to have to provide insurance coverage for contraception because he`s a good Catholic. Imagine.

MADDOW: Why was this not controversial when Republicans proposed it federally a decade ago? Or when 28 states put it in law, it`s law in 28 states across the country, and yet we have not heard a peep about it? Do
you think this is a manufactured controversy?

SCHAKOWSKY: Absolutely, I do, because I think that we have seen that these churches, that these hospitals, let`s remember too, we`re talking about hospital, we`re talking about universities that operate in the public space. They get public dollars. They get special tax breaks because they are not for profit institutions, and they hire people.

And we`re talking about janitors and secretaries and nurses and students, and teachers -- and they have been doing this for a long time in more than half of the country. And now all of a sudden, this has become an
assault on religious freedom in our country? It`s incredible to me in this 21st century we`re having this debate.

MADDOW: But why do you think we are? One of the things I think is interesting is the timing. This had been out and known for weeks before anybody problematize it, before anybody started crowing about it.

Obviously, the Catholic Church decided to make an issue. They had their clergy read to it people at Sunday mass. We saw Newt Gingrich pick it up on the campaign trail, thereafter, which treated the country to the
spectacle of Newt Gingrich lecturing the country on good Catholic behavior, particularly with regard to sex.

But we didn`t see an immediate response to this. It was definitely -- there was a decision made to make it a political issue. Do you think they have calculated this will succeed as a political issue, that this will harm
the administration?

SCHAKOWSKY: Well, first of all, I think they have made a wrong political calculation, that most of the pundits that we hear, most of the spokespeople in favor of this are men who are saying that we should change the rules. But I think they also may have waited until after the jobs numbers came out, the unemployment numbers came out, the economy seems to be doing better, and so, let`s go back to the culture wars. We think that works.

But I think this is a serious miscalculation. Don`t they even read the polls? I thought they were poll-driven when the majority of Americans including Catholics, men and women, that were polled say that the majority
thinks that all employers, including Catholic hospitals and universities ought to provide health care coverage, that includes contraception.

I don`t know what they are thinking and when they make this calculation. I think they are really off base.

And, you know, the women in Congress, the Democratic women in Congress have been absolutely fierce about it and I really appreciate that. So calling on women as they did with the Susan G. Komen protest, to now protest this effort, which I think is even more serious to take away their right to birth control.

MADDOW: Democratic Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky of Illinois, thank you for being with us to tonight on this. I really appreciate it.

SCHAKOWSKY: Thank you, Rachel.

MADDOW: Thanks.

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