House G.O.P. Hesitates on Birth Control Fight

By ROBERT PEAR
NYT

WASHINGTON — House Republicans, unsure how to proceed, have slowed their efforts to overturn a federal rule requiring employers, including religious institutions, to provide female employees with free health insurance coverage for contraceptives.

While most House Republicans still support legislation to broaden the exemption for religious employers, House Republican leaders are carefully reviewing their options on the issue, which Democrats used to political advantage in the Senate.

The goal of House Republicans has not changed, they said, but they worry about further alienating women in this year’s elections.

In a speech on the House floor on Feb. 8, Speaker John A. Boehner, Republican of Ohio, vowed to block the Obama administration rule because, he said, it would force many religious employers to violate their religious beliefs and moral convictions.

(More here.)