Facing vocal opposition from religious leaders and an escalating political fight, the White House sought on Tuesday to ease mounting objections to a new administration rule that would require health insurance plans — including those offered by Catholic universities and charities — to offer birth control to women free of charge.As the Republican presidential candidates and conservative leaders sought to frame the rule as showing President Obama’s insensitivity to religious beliefs, Mr. Obama’s aides promised to explore ways to make it more palatable to religious-affiliated institutions, perhaps by allowing some employers to make side insurance plans available that are not directly paid for by the institutions.
But White House officials insisted the president would not back down from his decision last month that employees at institutions affiliated with religious organizations receive access to contraceptives.
The reason that this is more of a political issue than a religious one is that data suggest that Catholic women--who would be most likely to be the ones working in a religious-based organization opposed to birth control--are just as likely as any other group of women in America to be using contraception. This is not an issue that women are raising. Rather, it is an issue that others are raising that would, in essence, deny them the same level of reproductive health care that other women would be receiving. There may be a way out for the Obama administration, however, based on current practice in Hawaii:
Administration officials say one avenue for resolution might be to look at how Catholic institutions in the 28 states with similar laws have dealt with the issue. One possible compromise might be to emulate Hawaii, where the rule is in effect, but where employees at religious institutions that do not offer free contraception can get birth control through side benefits, which the employees nominally pay for but which often end up being free.
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