BISHOP RESPONDS TO OBAMA "COMPROMISE"

President Barack Obama decision Friday to announce a birth control compromise is receiving a lukewarm response from Catholic leaders.

Obama backed off a requirement for religious-affiliated employers to provide free birth control coverage even if it runs counter to their beliefs. 

The new proposal instead places the cost of free contraception to workers at such institutions on their insurance companies.

Bishop Walker Nickless of the Sioux City Catholic diocese says Obama's decision doesn't go far enough:

  
Bishop Nickless says this is not just about contraceptives, but a matter of religious freedom:

Under the new policy, religious employers will not be required to offer contraception and will not have to refer their employees to places that provide it.

Instead, the employer's insurance company must provide birth control for free in a separate arrangement with workers who want it. The change will still take effect with an extra year built in,
in August 2013.

A spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner said he believes the original measure violates First Amendment rights, and his office said Friday that he would seek legislation to overturn it.

The Associated Press contributed content to this report.