Obama seeks to calm uproar over free birth control requirement

Feb 10, 2012, 19:23 GMT

Washington - US President Barack Obama on Friday announced a change in a new requirement for all workplace health insurance to provide women with free birth control, in an attempt to defuse an uproar over religious liberty.

As part of the 2010 passage of Obama's health insurance reforms, the government issued a regulation last month that required employers offering health insurance to include full birth control coverage including contraceptives, the so-called morning-after pill and sterilization services.

An exemption was made for churches but not church-affiliated institutions such as charities, hospitals, schools and universities.

The Roman Catholic Church, which opposes contraception and has by far the largest network of affiliated institutions, reacted strongly against the policy, and the White House was reportedly under mounting pressure from Catholic legislators from Obama's own Democratic Party.

Flanked by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, whose department issued the regulation on January 20, Obama said that the policy would allow such church-affiliated non-profits to offer health plans that exclude birth control services, but the insurance companies providing the coverage must still offer free birth control to those workers.

'No woman's health should depend on who she is or where she works or how much money she makes,' Obama said.

'Now, as we move to implement this rule, however, we've been mindful that there's another principle at stake here, and that's the principle of religious liberty, an unalienable right that is enshrined in our Constitution.'

He acknowledged 'the many genuine concerns that have been raised over the last few weeks,' and called Friday's change a 'solution that works for everyone.'

'Religious liberty will be protected, and a law that requires free preventive care will not discriminate against women,' Obama said.

Most private health insurance in the United States provides medications with 'co-payment' by individuals, who typically pay 5 to 20 dollars a month for each common prescription drug.