White House seeking birth control compromise
Administration looks to allay religion-based concern
WASHINGTON – Hammered by Republicans and the Catholic Church, the White House hinted at compromise Tuesday as it struggled to calm an election-year uproar caused by its health-insurance rule requiring religious schools and hospitals to provide employees with access to free birth control.
Obama’s chief spokesman and his top campaign strategist both said the administration was searching for ways to allay the concern of Roman Catholics who say the birth control mandate would force them to violate their religious beliefs against contraception. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said the policy was a “huge mistake” that the administration should reconsider. “And if they don’t, Congress will act,” McConnell said.
On the campaign trail, GOP presidential hopefuls Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich heaped new criticism on the president, with Romney accusing Obama of an “assault on religion” and Gingrich calling the rule an “attack on the Catholic Church.”
The new rule, crafted as part of the Department of Health and Human Services implementation of the health care law, does not apply to churches and church-run organizations. Other religiously affiliated institutions, such as Catholic hospitals, charities and universities, have one year to phase in the new mandate.
Obama’s spokesman defended the decision that prompted the flare-up, even as he raised the prospect of some adjustment. He said women working for church-affiliated employers must be able to get contraception, but he also made clear that the White House wants to accommodate the concerns of the employers who would be required to provide birth control coverage regardless of their religious beliefs.
“There are ways to, I think, help resolve this issue that ensures that we provide that important preventive service, that health care coverage, to all women … in a way that also tries to allay some of these concerns,” press secretary Jay Carney said.
The spokesman did not say what those ways might be but said there were “a lot of different ideas out there.”