To the Editor:

Thom Tillis is one slick fellow. During his debate with Sen. Kay Hagan last Wednesday, he slithered right around the Hobby Lobby issue.

Rather than say whether he agrees that employers should be allowed to deny contraceptives to their female workers, Tillis said the pill should be available over the counter without prescription.

And he implied that he’s in agreement with the American Medical Association about that. But that’s definitely not what the AMA means about making contraceptives more widely available.

The AMA is peeved with pharmacists who claim conscience for refusing to fill contraceptive prescriptions. It’s asking for laws requiring pharmacies to either dispense them or refer patients immediately to competitors who do.

Imagine Tillis, who tried to defund Planned Parenthood, voting for a law like that. Or Justices John Roberts, Antonin Scalia, Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Anthony Kennedy upholding it.

The AMA has not endorsed routine over-the-counter contraception. For some women, the pill has health consequences requiring a physician's counsel and access to alternatives such as diaphragms and IUDs. 

Moreover, if a drug can be had without a prescription insurance no longer covers it and it is no longer eligible for a medical tax deduction. Nor would the price necessarily be significantly cheaper.  

So what Tillis proposes would likely reduce insurance spending by employers and raise out-of-pocket costs to women. 

There is, of course, a strong argument that employers shouldn't have anything to say about what health care — contraceptive or otherwise — their workers deserve. A single-payer health insurance system is the answer to that. But one doubts that Tillis would agree.

The overriding issue in this election is who North Carolina's junior senator will actually represent. Yes, Hagan votes with President Obama more than 90 percent of the time. But so does every other Democratic senator.

North Carolina is far better off with a senator who supports our president than with one who would vote with the Koch Brothers 100 percent of the time.

Martin Dyckman

Waynesville