DENVER (AP) — President Barack Obama says he has tried to accommodate religious objections to the requirement that employers provide insurance coverage for birth control.
Speaking to thousands of women at a campaign event in Denver, Obama defended the controversial mandate in the health care law.
He said, "We recognize that many people have strongly held religious views on contraception, which is why we made sure churches and other houses of worship — they don't have to provide it, they don't have to pay for it."
Plaintiffs in dozens of lawsuits call that exemption too narrow and arbitrary.
Obama also told the crowd that his administration "worked with the Catholic hospitals and universities to find a solution that protects both religious liberty and a woman's health."
But opponents of the mandate say the president's proposed accommodation is inadequate, and note that the law remains unchanged.
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242-w-31-(Steve Coleman, AP religion editor, with President Barack Obama)--President Barack Obama says he has tried to accommodate religious objections to the requirement that employers provide insurance coverage for birth control. AP Religion Editor Steve Coleman reports. (8 Aug 2012)
<<CUT *242 (08/08/12)>> 00:31
243-a-11-(President Barack Obama, at campaign event)-"pay for it"-President Barack Obama says he has accommodated religious objections to the health care law's birth control mandate. (8 Aug 2012)
<<CUT *243 (08/08/12)>> 00:11 "pay for it"
244-a-07-(President Barack Obama, at campaign event)-"a woman's health"-President Barack Obama says religious objections to contraception have been considered. (8 Aug 2012)
<<CUT *244 (08/08/12)>> 00:07 "a woman's health"
