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" When it comes to our uteri, Congress&amp;#039;s Republicans seem really confused: They want to restrict abortion on a national scale, but they also don&amp;#039;t want to allow women access to birth control to help prevent pregnancy in the first place. (We would joke about a ban on sex altogether, but Virginia gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli is one step ahead of us; he actually wants to make oral and anal illegal under the Crimes Against Nature Law.)  The latest assault on contraception is the &amp;quot;conscience clause.&amp;quot; While the Affordable Care Act (dubbed &amp;quot;Obamacare&amp;quot; by detractors) requires that most employers provide free contraception, the clause would allow insurers to opt out of preventative care\u2014including birth control pills\u2014that they don&amp;#039;t agree with morally or religiously. Because many House Republicans are opposed to the health care reform bill, they slipped the idea of delaying federal funding to Obamacare by a year, as well as the terribly-named clause, into a government spending bill that expires Monday at midnight. With the spending bill halted in Congress, the government is in danger of shutting down... seems like that should be weighing more heavily on legislators&amp;#039; consciences than, say, our birth control? So, who are the politicians responsible for the conscience clause? Get to know them and other notable politicians standing between you and your birth control now. Tim Huelskamp Say hello to the mastermind and spokesperson behind the conscience clause (above). Though the Affordable Care Act already allowed religious nonprofits to opt out of free birth control, Rep. Huelskamp (R-Kansas) wants to allow all institutions the option to pass on offering it to their employees, tweeting that he wants to &amp;quot;protect the #ReligiousLiberty of all Americans from the ravages of #ObamaCare&amp;#039;s #HHS mandate.&amp;quot; Joe Pitts The Republican congressman from Pennsylvania is the guy who sent a letter signed by 72 members of Congress to House Speaker John Boehner, formally pushing for passage of the conscience clause. As a P.S., Pitts also suggested that there be no penalty against employers &amp;quot;refusing to provide, train, or refer for abortion services.&amp;quot; Sounds like the pits...  Ken Cuccinelli You know the Virginia Attorney General from greatest hits like trying to ban anal and oral sex in his home state, and funding crisis pregnancy centers that spew lies such as &amp;quot;birth control causes abortion.&amp;quot; But that&amp;#039;s not all: the Republican candidate for governor has also tried to defund Planned Parenthood, arguing that the organization offers &amp;quot;abortion on demand to our children.&amp;quot; Nevermind that only 3-percent of PP&amp;#039;s services are abortion-related; 97-percent of its focus is on pregnancy prevention, STD tests and treatment, sexual education, pap smears, and breast exams.  John Boehner When the conscience clause landed on the House Speaker&amp;#039;s desk, he likely wasn&amp;#039;t mad at it. Boehner, who is Catholic, has said the Affordable Health Care Act&amp;#039;s free birth control mandate &amp;quot;cannot stand and will not stand.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;In imposing this requirement, the federal government has drifted dangerously beyond its constitutional boundaries, encroaching on religious freedom,&amp;quot; he argued earlier this year.  Mitch McConnell The Senate minority leader (R-KY) has long supported employers denying free birth control to their insured employees. Nevermind your rights, McConnell says your religiously devout boss has the right to deprive you of affordable birth control because it&amp;#039;s his or her &amp;quot;religious liberty.&amp;quot;  Bob Casey The Democratic senator from Pennsylvania, who is Catholic, does not believe religiously-affiliated organizations should have cover free birth control, saying that although he has &amp;quot;strongly supported efforts to provide greater access to contraception,&amp;quot; he also believes &amp;quot;that religiously-affiliated organizations like hospitals and universities should not be compelled by our federal government to purchase insurance policies that violate their religious and moral convictions.&amp;quot;    Marco Rubio Before you fall in love with the GOP&amp;#039;s rising star, know his stance on women&amp;#039;s rights: The Republican senator from Florida fired back at the Affordable Care Act last year with his own bill\u2014the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 2012\u2014which would have allowed employers to block free birth control\u2014or, for that matter, any health service\u2014based on religious or moral beliefs. It didn&amp;#039;t pass, but it threatened to cut off birth control for millions of women.  Chris Christie He won big support for his handling of Hurricane Sandy, but when it comes to reproductive rights, the New Jersey governor may not be such a rock star: In signing his state&amp;#039;s budget earlier this year, he\u2014for the fifth time\u2014failed to include additional funding for family planning services that would have benefited clinics offering birth control, cancer screenings and STD testing.  Paul Ryan The former VP candidate and Republican congressman from Wisconsin goes so far as to say Obamacare&amp;#039;s free birth control mandate is a &amp;quot;threat&amp;quot;\u2014not to the women who need it, but to &amp;quot;religious charities...who would be forced to violate their principles&amp;quot; and to &amp;quot;all those who turn to them in times of need.&amp;quot;  Rick Santorum Here&amp;#039;s a nominee for the anti-birth control Hall of Fame. While even some conservative leaders are reluctant to attack contraception, for fear of alienating female voters, the former Republican senator from Pennsylvania brazenly talked about his disdain for birth control while stumping for president, saying: &amp;quot;One of the things I will talk about, that no president has talked about before, is the dangers of contraception in this country\u2026. Many of the Christian faith have said, well, that&amp;#039;s okay, contraception is okay. It&amp;#039;s not okay. It&amp;#039;s a license to do things in a sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be.&amp;quot;  Rick Perry How can we forget the Texas governor (who Wendy Davis just might replace)? During his soon-to-end tenure, Perry gutted funding for family planning, leaving hundreds of thousands of Texas women without birth control (or, for that matter, basic reproductive healthcare), and famously signed a sweeping abortion ban into law.   Want more from Michelle? 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<http://www.cosmopolitan.com/health-fitness/advice/a4845/politicians-anti-birth-control/?click=main_sr>