Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius speaks at a conference in Washington on Dec. 5. (Photo: Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images) Story Highlights Proposal would help avoid conflicts between religious beliefs and employees' needs 
 
 One Catholic analyst called the proposal a "win-win" 
 
 Anti-abortion groups criticized the proposal 
 
 WASHINGTON — Women who work for religious-affiliated organizations can have contraceptive services under their health insurance through separate coverage while allowing their employers not to violate their religious beliefs by exempting them from paying for it, according to a proposed regulation issued Friday by the Department of Health and Human Services. 
 
 Last August, when the government announced that insurance plans must cover women's contraceptive services with no co-pays under the 2010 health care law, some employers – charities, religious schools and hospitals – took issue with being forced to provide a service that goes against their beliefs. 
 
 "Today, the administration is taking the next step in providing women across the nation with coverage of recommended preventive care at no cost, while respecting religious concerns," said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in a press statement. "We will continue to work with faith-based organizations, women's organizations, insurers and others to achieve these goals." 
 
 STORY: Private employers sue 
 
 Under the proposed rule, religious organizations would inform their insurer of their exemption, and then the insurer would inform the organization's employees that the insurer would provide them with no-cost contraceptive coverage through a separate insurance policy not connected to the religious employer. 
 
 The insurer would be reimbursed through a reduction in the user fees it would normally pay to participate in the new state health exchanges, or marketplaces. The state marketplaces are websites where consumers can choose from eligible health insurance plans by comparing prices and benefits. 
 
 Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, a deputy director of policy and regulation for insurance oversight at HHS, said 99% of women use contraception at some point, and the Institute of Medicine recommended contraception as a covered benefit because it would ultimately keep costs down for the public and private health care systems. 
 
 "Prevention saves dollars," she said. "The issuer provides coverage knowing that overall costs will not increase." 
 
 As it stands, 28 states already require insurers to cover contraception. 
 
 Anti-abortion groups immediately took issue with the proposed rule, while women's groups and equality organizations praised it. 
 
 "Our overriding concern is that women have meaningful access to essential preventive health care services, like birth control, without co-pays or deductibles," said Marcia Greenberger, co-president of the National Women's Law Center, which promotes equality for women, in a statement. "We look forward to reviewing and commenting on the proposed regulation in detail to ensure that women are able to make personal health decisions without interference by their bosses." 
 
 The American Civil Liberties Union, a non-profit that fights for individual rights, said the rule shows the administration wants to ensure women have "basic health services." 
 
 "Over the last year, we've seen a disturbing number of instances where employers are trying to impose their religious beliefs on a diverse workforce that does not share them, and opponents of the law have made it clear that they won't rest until no insurance plan, whatever the source, is required to cover contraception," said Sarah Lipton-Lubet, ACLU policy counsel, in a statement. 
 
 Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian group that advocates prayers at public meetings and crosses on public land, called the rule an "abortion pill mandate." 
 
 "The administration's narrow gesture does nothing to protect many faith-based employers or religious families from the unconstitutional abortion pill mandate," said senior legal counsel Matt Bowman. "The government has no business putting religious freedom on the negotiating table, or picking and choosing who is allowed to exercise faith." 
 
 Bowman refers to the "morning-after pill," or Plan B, available as an over-the-counter pill for adult women that prevents pregnancy up to three days after unprotected sex, or Ella, a prescription-only pill that prevents pregnancy up to five days after unprotected sex. 
 
 About 100 plaintiffs have filed 43 lawsuits against HHS nationwide, saying they believe the requirement violates the rights of religious organizations. 
 
 Priests for Life, a Roman-Catholic anti-abortion group that also objects to contraceptives, said the rule requiring contraceptive care should be rescinded completely. 
 
 But Thomas Reese, a Jesuit priest who is a senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University, said he sees it as a "win-win" for both religious organizations and the government. 
 
 "I think they really worked hard to find a solution to take care of the problem that Catholic hospitals had with the rule," he said. "Congress made clear that it did not want abortion covered by federal funds." 
 
 He said he would leave the debate over whether the morning-after pill qualifies as an "abortion" to medical specialists. 
 
 "I think this should make both the bishops and the hospitals happy," he said, "and at the same time, it keeps employees happy." 
 
 The proposed rule is here: www.ofr.gov/inspection.aspx 
 
 Contributing: Cathy Grossman ||||| For the second time in a year, the Obama administration has backtracked on its requirement to make religious institutions pay for contraception. 
 
 A new policy announced Friday further expanded the exemption to Obamacare: Women will still be able to get the same health benefits, but certain religious employers won’t have to pay for them. Instead, institutions that insure themselves can use a third-party to find a separate health insurance plan to pay for and provide the contraceptives. 
 
 Text Size - 
 
 + 
 
 reset 
 
 (PHOTOS: 21 landmark SCOTUS rulings) 
 
 Facing outrage from institutions that objected to the contraception requirement on moral grounds, the administration had already exempted some religious institutions — churches were always exempt — from requiring contraception coverage last year. Then, Obama exempted some religiously affiliated institutions, such as evangelical Christian schools or Catholic hospitals, from covering contraception in their plans, forcing insurers to offer free contraception to those employed by them. 
 
 Friday’s shift broadened the definition of which groups would be exempt and addressed where the money to pay for the guaranteed coverage would come from so that religious groups wouldn’t be paying even indirectly. 
 
 (PHOTOS: 10 alarmist quotes on health law ruling) 
 
 The Health and Human Services Department announced the new proposed rule on its website. 
 
 The new policy is designed to quell outcry from religious-affiliated institutions, that the Obama administration was making them violate their religious beliefs. 
 
 The policy does not address the concerns of private businesses whose owners also object to contraception on religious grounds. Several dozen lawsuits have been filed, and the religious freedom issue is likely to reach the Supreme Court. 
 
 “Today, the administration is taking the next step in providing women across the nation with coverage of recommended preventive care at no cost, while respecting religious concerns,” Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a statement. “We will continue to work with faith-based organizations, women’s organizations, insurers and others to achieve these goals.” 
 
 Sebelius briefed abortion rights groups on the new rule Thursday, sources tell POLITICO. 
 
 (PHOTOS: Supreme Court highlights in 2012) 
 
 White House press secretary Jay Carney referred questions to HHS, but said that the president believes that the policy both guarantees contraception for women and respects religious objections. 
 
 In outlining the policy last year, Carney said, the president “set two important criteria. One, to ensure that women have access to preventive services like contraception. And that the policy also respects religious beliefs. Those guidelines, those criteria have been followed by the department in promulgating this rule, this proposed rule, and as part of that process there will be more comment that is taken on it.”
– The Obama administration today officially issued a proposed change to its rule mandating that employers offer their female employees insurance that includes copay-free access to contraception. Under the new rule, women who work for a religiously-affiliated employer, such as a Catholic hospital, will still get free access to contraceptives, but their employers won't need to pay for it. The employer will instead notify their insurance provider of their exemption, and the insurer will notify the employee that the contraception is coming from a separate policy, USA Today explains. The rule drew praise from the executive director of Catholics United. Health and Human Services "has done the right thing," he said, according to Politico. "This is a victory not only for the Obama administration, but for the Catholic Church." But the rule hews fairly close to Obama's already announced compromise, which some Catholics had declared inadequate. The US Conference of Catholic Bishops has so far only said it will review the new regulations. The administration also ruled out broadening the exemption to encompass any company whose owner had a religious objection, the Hill points out.