President's Birth-Control Plan Goes Unblessed by U.S. Catholic Bishops

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The regulation at the center of the controversy requires religious-affiliated groups such as charities, hospitals, and universities -- but not churches themselves -- to provide employees with coverage for birth control as other health-insurance providers must do.

Catholic Church leaders and Obama's Republican opponents previously led the fight against the rule requiring coverage for contraceptives as a violation of religious freedom, making it a potential big issue in the 2012 presidential race.

Obama's compromise sought to accommodate religious organizations, such as Catholic hospitals and universities. But the reaction from the bishops and other Catholic leaders made clear the battle would continue.

No 'Clear Protection'

The bishops said the compromise failed to provide "clear protection" for many employers who might oppose birth control personally but not be classified as a religious institution, and thus be ineligible to seek exemption from the federal mandate to provide free contraception as part of every insurance package.

Under the compromise, religious employers could opt out of providing coverage, but their workers could then ask their insurance company for that benefit, and the company would be required to provide it free of charge.

In reality, the bishops suggested, that meant the employer would still in effect be subsidizing the benefit, because the insurance company would likely pay for it out of the pool of revenue it earned from its contract with the employer.

"This, too, raises serious moral concerns," the bishops said.

Meanwhile, three religious groups will continue to pursue their legal challenges to the government's regulation, despite Obama's announcement, said Hannah Smith, a lawyer at the Beckett Fund for Religious Liberty, which represents the plaintiffs.