Religious groups would outlaw birth control, if able

The Obama administration is once again performing backflips and somersaults in order to “compromise” with employers and institutions that object, on religious grounds, to providing female employees with contraception through their insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act [“Obama tries again in fight over birth control,” page one, Feb. 2].

While I appreciate that the Department of Health and Human Services is trying not to force these employers and institutions to operate in a way that offends their sincerely held beliefs, one cannot say that the opposite is true: If the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops had its way, all American women would be subject to its standard of religious freedom, which would result in no contraception and no abortion services anywhere in the United States.

--Karen Knutson, Seattle