Catholic bishop vows to keep fighting birth-control mandate

Catholics won't stop fighting the Obama administration's contraception mandate, Cardinal Timothy Dolan reportedly said Tuesday.

The Associated Press reported that Dolan, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said the church will not comply with the mandate and will continue challenging it in court.

Churches and houses of worship are exempt from the administration's policy requiring employers to include contraception in their employees' healthcare plans. The White House has also made a more nuanced "accommodation" for religious-affiliated employers, such as Catholic hospitals and universities.

In a series of lawsuits challenging the contraception policy, critics argue that any employer should be able to opt out of the mandate based on their religious beliefs, even if their business isn't at all connected to a religious organization.

The birth-control policy created a short but intense political headache for the Obama administration last year as Catholic leaders, including Dolan, said the White House was forcing them to pay for a product they find immoral.

But after announcing accommodations for religious-affiliated employers, Obama seemed to regain the political upper hand on the issue by shifting the debate away from religious liberty and toward women's health. He campaigned aggressively on the contraception policy this year as part of a push for female voters.

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