The Health Care Law, Catholics and Birth Control (PolitiFact)

On Friday, the White House announced a compromise on who pays for free contraception. But what did the original (highly controversial) policy entail? At its heart, the policy was part of a broader push to provide preventive care without extra fees. In an attempt to define which women’s health services should be included in the free preventive care measures, the Health and Human Services Department created the guidelines for women’s health services based on recommendations from the Institute of Medicine, saying preventive services must include all birth control approved by the Food and Drug Administration, plus sterilization. This put the Catholic Church, which has long objected to birth control as violating moral law, in a tough spot. Here, Becky Bowers examines five scenarios of how the law might apply: a Catholic nun working in a Catholic church, a Jewish classroom aid at a Catholic primary school, a Catholic custodian at a Catholic primary school, an athiest office worker at a Catholic university, and a Catholic nun working as a Catholic hospital administrator.