Huckabee: Democrats pitch women on birth control

January 23, 2014 at 9:57p.m.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee told fellow Republicans today that rival Democrats were trying to win over female voters by promising them free birth control and telling them “they cannot control their libido or their reproductive system without the help of the government.” Huckabee made the comment as he was making a pitch that the GOP needs to broaden its appeal and end its internal divisiveness. Huckabee, a favorite of Christian conservatives and a Fox News personality, told the Republican Party’s leaders and activists that purity tests within the party only shrink the ranks. His speech about expanding the appeal of the GOP, designed to whet the 168-member Republican National Committee’s appetite for a Huckabee 2016 campaign, won a quick rebuke from the White House over contraception.