Q&A: Obama and the birth control controversy

WASHINGTON — What birth control debate? A half-century after the introduction of the pill, acceptance of birth control by American women is virtually universal.

But that didn't keep the Obama administration from landing in a political mess over a side issue to a new policy that will soon make contraceptives available free of charge as preventive care for women enrolled in workplace health plans.

The big question: How the rules would apply to nonprofit institutions such as hospitals, colleges and charities that are affiliated with a religion but serve the general public.

Here are some questions and answers on President Barack Obama's proposal on Friday to find a way out of the problem, and how his administration got there in the first place:

Q: Was the Obama administration going to require churches to cover birth control?

A: No, churches, synagogues, mosques and other houses of worship were not being required to cover the pill. That was never the issue.

Instead the battle is over nonprofit institutions affiliated with a religion. For example, a Catholic hospital or a college chartered by a denomination but open to students of all faiths or no faith. The Roman Catholic Church is opposed to artificial birth control methods, but polls show that the faithful in the pews generally use contraceptives anyway.

Q: Well, what was going to change for the hospitals and soup kitchens?

A: Previously the administration had said that such affiliated institutions were basically going to be treated like all other employers and insurance plans. They would have to cover birth control as part of a package of preventive services for women. The only concession was one more year to phase in the changes.

Obama has now walked that back. Employers affiliated with a religion will not have to provide birth control coverage if it offends their beliefs. However, the insurers that cover their workers will be required to offer birth control directly to women working for the religious employer, and do so free of charge.

Q: Wait a minute, there is no such thing as a free lunch. Insurers are going to pay for birth control themselves?

A: They may not have another alternative, but eventually they'll figure out how to pass on the cost.