The Obama Administration has hit a WIN/WIN with this shift. If you are a Christian or a group who cares about reducing abortions, you should be very pleased with the outcome, which will play more of a play in reducing abortions than anything else could. Without affordable or free access to contraception, abortion rates go up dramatically. If you are someone who is worried about religious liberty, you should likewise be very happy with the lengths to which the White House has gone to to make sure no religious entity has to pay directly for something they don’t wish to because it is against their beliefs.

Whoever says President Obama is not supportive of churches/religious liberty, or is “pro-abortion” is just plain wrong – they need no more proof than this.

Here’s a great video clip of a summary and commentary from Chris Matthews:

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White House Expands Religious Exemptions to Contraception Mandate

The Obama administration on Friday sought to placate religious groups by broadening religious exemptions and giving faith-based organizations more room to maneuver around its controversial contraception mandate, but the new rules offer no loopholes for privately owned businesses.

The contraception mandate, part of Obama’s health care overhaul, had set off an explosive church-state dispute and soured relations between the White House and some Christian groups, including the Catholic bishops’ conference.

The new rules, issued by the Health and Human Services Department, seek to address religious freedom concerns in two ways: First, they broaden the definition of “religious employers” so that all houses of worship and dioceses and affiliated organizations will be clearly exempt. Second, for other faith-based employers, the rules would transfer the costs and administrative tasks of the birth control insurance policies to insurance companies.

Read the full article here.