In a move that hasn’t entirely satisfied the Catholic Church but is certainly a major concession, President Barack Obama yesterday announced that he’s removing the requirement for Catholic institutions to provide contraception and sterilisation services to employees and students as part of insurance plans. The onus for provide that coverage now falls to the insurance companies themselves.

As The Los Angeles Times reports:

Catholic bishops say they remain opposed to President Obama‘s plan to require insurers to provide free birth control, even if religiously affiliated employers such as Catholic hospitals and universities aren’t forced to pay for it.

“The only complete solution to this religious liberty problem is for HHS [Department of Health and Human Services] to rescind the mandate of these objectionable services,” the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said.

The statement, issued late Friday, makes clear that the bishops’ opposition goes well beyond the “religious freedom” dispute that had riled Washington for the last month. The government’s decision to guarantee that women have access to contraceptives “remains a grave moral concern,” they said.

The cynical analysis would be that President Obama simply didn’t need an issue like this to hang over his head for any longer in an election year. The story, after 10 days or so in small pockets of the media, erupted into the public domain about 10 days ago and was a major story, especially as the men battling to be his opponent in November starting using it to hammer Obama.

Either way, it’s a good outcome, even if the bishops still want more amendments to the legislation. Oh, and a number of state attorneys-general are also suing the Obama administration over the contraceptive mandate.

Here a Q&A from CBS (via the AP) that tries to outline the controversy, but I suspect some in the US Catholic bishops’ offices might paint a slightly different picture. Here’s a reminder of the USCCB objections outlined earlier in the discussion.