Report: Obama Will Tweak His Mandate on Abortion Drug and Contraception, But Won't Compromise

ABC's Jake Tapper reports that "later today the White House — possibly President Obama himself — will likely announce an attempt to accommodate these religious groups."

So is this a "compromise" as many news outlets have reported? Not at all--a compromise requires finding something acceptable to all parties involved. "The move, based on state models, will almost certainly not satisfy bishops and other religious leaders since it will preserve the goal of women employees having their birth control fully covered by health insurance," Tapper reports. "White House officials have discussed the state law in Hawaii, where religious groups are allowed to opt out of coverage that includes birth control, as long as employees are given information whether such coverage can be obtained. But this accommodation would not go that far." 

Richard Doerflinger, a top official at the United States Council of Catholic Bishops, has already said that the Hawaii model is unacceptable: 

“I’ve reviewed the Hawaii law, and it’s not much of a compromise,” said Richard Doerflinger of the USCCB Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities and the bishops’ chief lobbyist on life issues in the nation’s capital. “The Hawaii contraceptive mandate has many of the same features as the new federal mandate.”

Like the federal rule, he said, the Hawaii bill “covers all FDA-approved ‘contraceptives’ (including drugs that can cause an abortion); and the religious exemption is very narrow (though it does not include the requirement that the religious organization serve only people of its own faith to be eligible).

“It adds an extra feature — the requirement that any religious organization that is exempt must still tell all enrollees how they may directly access contraceptive services and supplies in an expeditious manner.”

In other words, the Catholic Church must directly send women to drugs and devices that are morally wrong and can do harm to them.