Remember the 2012 Republican presidential debate in which ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, seemingly out of nowhere, pressed Mitt Romney repeatedly for his views on contraception? After a contentious back-and-forth, a frustrated Romney declared, “Contraception, it’s working just fine, just leave it alone.”

In the 2014 midterms, Democratic candidates have taken up where Stephanopoulos left off, and they’re certainly not leaving contraception alone. In some key Senate races, Democrats have even charged that Republicans would “make birth control illegal.” (That’s from Colorado Democratic Sen. Mark Udall, directed at GOP opponent Rep. Cory Gardner.) But now, instead of Romney’s irritated protest, the GOP has a new policy response, which strategists hope will “neutralize” (the word used by one operative) the Democratic attacks. But it’s still to be seen whether that is possible, or even whether Republicans will agree among themselves that the idea would both work politically and be good policy.