Americans are almost evenly divided on the Obama administration’s decision to require private employers to provide free birth control with health insurance plans, and a majority wants the “Obamacare” law to be repealed, according to a poll released Thursday.
The Quinnipiac University nationwide survey found that 48 percent oppose the administration’s rule on contraceptives, while 47 percent favor it. The poll showed that 72 percent of Republicans oppose the mandate, and 69 percent of Democrats support it.
The administration created a firestorm Jan. 20 when Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that religious-affiliated institutions including universities and hospitals would not be exempt under the new federal health care law to provide coverage of contraception.
Catholic bishops and leaders in other faiths protested the decision, leading Mr. Obama on Feb. 10 to announce that he would revise the policy to exempt religiously affiliated employers such as hospitals and universities from directly financing plans that provide free contraception to employees. But the president said insurance companies still would have to provide the coverage...