Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius yesterday assured a House panel that the contraception mandate will actually pay for itself.

“Who pays for it? There’s no such thing as a free service,” [Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Tim] Murphy asked.

Sebelius responded that that is not the case with insurance.

“The reduction in the number of pregnancies compensates for cost of contraception,” Sebelius answered.

Murphy expressed surprise by the answer.

“So you are saying, by not having babies born, we are going to save money on health care?” Murphy asked.

Sebelius replied, “Providing contraception is a critical preventive health benefit for women and for their children.”

Murphy again sought clarification.

“Not having babies born is a critical benefit. This is absolutely amazing to me. I yield back,” he said.

As Kentucky Republican Rep. Brad Guthrie pointed out, if Sebelius is correct, it’s curious that more insurance companies don’t already cover contraception. If it makes money for health insurance companies to cover it, why don’t they already do so voluntarily?

More importantly, Sebelius’ comments show an alarming disregard for the value of human life and hints at a desire for population control. Still, Sebelius wants to talk about the population in economic terms? Let’s talk about it. Does she understand that we’re headed toward an entitlement crisis, fueled in part by too many retirees to be supported by too few workers? If the U.S. has any kind of population problem, it’s that our population is not growing fast enough to support our entitlement state. Think that’s a stretch? For what it’s worth, Mark Steyn doesn’t.