While some are calling yesterday’s change of policy with regard to contraception coverage a win-win for both the Catholic church and the Obama administration, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops does not see this as a win. Instead, they see it as one small little step, and they are pressing for much, much more.

The first amendment’s protection of religious liberty is not a license for religious organizations or individuals to disregard any law or regulation they don’t like. If the White House wants to end this fight, that’s the argument they’re going to have to make to the public. Instead, they have allowed the USCCB to set the terms of the debate, and the USCCB is quite happy to continue doing so.

This isn’t over, folks. Not by a long shot.

Catholic bishops had a mixed reaction to President Obama’s new plan for birth control access, which preserves universal, cost-free access and uses a Hawaii-type compromise to leave the religiously affiliated institutions out of the exchange of services between an insurance company and the employee.

The US Conference of Catholic Bishops has reportedly rejected a proposed compromise with the Obama Administration on birth control access rules for religiously affiliated institutions. Under the “Hawaii compromise” any exempt religious organization would have to tell enrollees how they could directly access contraceptive services from their insurance company. But advocates of ensured access don’t want to force employees to beg their employers for a right they should have.

Administration officials are preparing the ground for some kind of rollback on universal access for birth control, after the US Conference of Catholic Bishops turned the issue into a major controversy. Yesterday, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney hinted at changes to the regulations and other Admin sources dropped hints.

As expected by TBogg yesterday, Karen Handel, the anti-abortion activist who wound up as a Vice President for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation, has resigned from the organization. She leaves behind an angry resignation letter and a discredited organization.

I didn’t think we had reached the point in America where providing free contraception would be seen as a risky political maneuver, but here we are. Last month, the Administration agreed to universal access to birth control as part of the Affordable Care Act. Insurance companies would need to provide coverage for contraception in both employer plans and on the insurance exchanges without a co-pay.

Well, that was pointless. After shifting rationales, unreliable claims of bravado and the resignation of top staffers, the Susan G. Komen Foundation for the Cure has reversed its decision to de-fund Planned Parenthood, reinstating its donation to support breast cancer screenings at the organization’s clinics.

The Susan G. Komen for the Cure denied funding for breast cancer screenings to Planned Parenthood today in an anti-abortion frenzy designed to hurt the women’s health provider. The effect was a glancing blow. In the past 24 hours, 6,000 donors have delivered $400,000 to Planned Parenthood, almost half of the annual donation from Susan G. Komen, on whom a ton of criticism is about to fall.

When the Susan G. Komen for the Cure charity dropped its support for breast cancer screenings at Planned Parenthood, they did enormous damage to themselves just to appease conservatives. They’ve just set in motion a backlash that will hurt a lot.

With Rick Santorum poised to do well in Iowa today and perhaps play at least a barely-plausible role as an anti-Romney challenger for the GOP nomination, it’s worth looking for a moment at his priorities. He wants expanded credits to encourage more kids, and he wants states to ban contraceptives. As Paul says, he’s the liberal.