Dold: Obama ‘over-stepped’ on birth control mandate

Dold: Obama ‘over-stepped’ on birth control mandate

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U.S. Rep. Robert Dold, R-Ill., said Monday the President over-stepped by forcing religious institutions to provide birth control for employees.

Barack Obama announced a compromise last week that would let certain religious institutions object to providing contraceptives on religious principles. Under the president’s compromise, birth control would instead be covered directly by the insurance companies rather than through religious institutions.

The north suburban congressman said he’s waiting to see if the White House will compromise more on the mandate.

“We’ll see how that moves forward in terms of if there’s going to be more in terms of a compromise,” said Dold. “I think this is going to be about freedom of religion, freedom of speech, those types of things on the first amendment.”

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops released a statement Friday opposing the revised measure.