Proposed personhood amendments. Rachel Maddow explaining the female reproductive system to Mitt Romney. An all-male congressional panel hearing testimony on whether religious-affiliated organizations' health insurance plans should be required to provide free birth control. Rush Limbaugh calling Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown law student who criticized her university for not covering contraception, a "slut" and a "prostitute." The Affordable Care Act passing, requiring new insurance policies to cover birth control, no co-pay required. Representative Todd Akin's comments revealing how little he understands about how women's bodies work. Barack Obama aggressively campaigning for women's votes. Ann Romney saying that contraception is not "what this election is going to be about. This election is going to be about the economy," even though, as a study subsequently demonstrated, most women think birth control enhances their chances of economic stability and prosperity.
The government's impact on women's lives has been a major issue in the lead-up to the 2012 presidential election.
Tonight when President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney face off in the election's first presidential debate, the focus will be domestic policy, and a variety of issues affecting women and the men in their lives will almost certainly come up.
That's why we'll be discussing those issues in a chat on HuffPost Live as the debate unfolds, and we hope you'll join us. HP Live will stream the entire debate from 9 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Eastern.
To participate in the discussion with HuffPost's Senior Columnist for Life/Work/Family Lisa Belkin, HuffPost Women associate editor Emma Gray and me along with HuffPost bloggers Joanne Bamberger, author of "PunditMom's Mothers of Intention: How Women & Social Media Are Revolutionizing Politics in America," and Joan Williams, author of "Reshaping the Work-Family Debate: Why Men and Class Matter," just click over to HuffPost Live here at 9 p.m. See you there!