Sandra Fluke urges comments favoring birth control rule

The female law student made famous by controversy over President Obama's birth control mandate urged supporters of the policy to submit comments to the administration Wednesday.

"President Obama's plan strikes the right balance," Sandra Fluke wrote in an email to Planned Parenthood supporters. "It guarantees that women will be able to get birth control without a co-pay, while ensuring that the rights of religious organizations are respected."

Fluke's email linked to a Planned Parenthood site that sends comments to the Health and Human Services (HHS) Department. The comment period on the proposed birth control rule ends April 8.

On Feb. 1, HHS announced that it will not create a broad exception to the mandate for employers with religious objections to birth control.

The policy requires most employers to cover a range of birth control methods in their healthcare plans. Churches and houses of worship are exempt, and employees of religiously affiliated institutions will be able to receive contraception directly from their insurance companies without a co-pay.

Officials said Feb. 1 that religiously affiliated employers will not have to promote that coverage or notify employees that it exists.

"The Obama administration announced they will hold the line on making no-cost birth control available to women under the Affordable Care Act," Planned Parenthood wrote online.

"Now, the fight starts anew ... We know what our opponents are capable of, and we cannot let them continue to stand between a woman and her body, her decisions and her future."

Critics of the mandate say that the accommodations do not go far enough, particularly because they do not provide relief for employers who personally object to birth control.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops recently said that Catholic institutions will have a "second-class status" under the policy because they are not exempted like Catholic parishes.

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