It's time for critics of the Obama administration's contraceptive mandate to drop the pretense. The fight is no longer about employers being required to pay for contraceptives, particularly "morning after" pills that some consider abortifacients. It's about employees being able to obtain them.
The final rules released Friday, like the ones that have been in effect since last August, give religious-affiliated nonprofits and closely held for-profit firms an easy way to disassociate themselves completely from their employees' use of birth control. (Churches and other religious groups that employ workers directly are exempt from the requirement.) Employers simply have to notify the Department of Health and Human Services that a) they provide insurance to their workers, and b) they have a religious objection to providing contraceptive coverage.