Any time the Obama administration touches issues related to the Roman Catholic Church, it seems to wind up in a rhetorical and moral crossfire that leaves all involved wounded and angry. This is what’s happening in the battle over how contraception should be covered under the new health-care law.

Partly because it mishandled the issue at the outset, the Obama team seems destined either to leave supporters in the reproductive-rights community irate or to put the president’s Catholic sympathizers in a much weakened position.