The fact that the issue of birth control is even up for debate and that its detractors and naysayers aren’t being laughed off the public stage is profoundly depressing: Birth control and, by extension, abortion have changed women’s lives. They’ve certainly changed mine. Ninety-eight percent of Americans will use some form of birth control over the course of their lives; one-third of American women will have an abortion by the age of 45. And were we in a sane society, one where life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness were not only celebrated but encouraged, such political or ideological posturing would be, as Goldberg puts it, “completely disqualifying” for candidates.