come out with a war on religion and now, the white house is ready to walk back its decision to make catholic institutions pay for employee's birth control and a source according to a white house source, the administration is going to talk about it at least later on. the white house held a news conference. a conference call with religious activists today promising to make religious universities and hospitals exception. an announcement is expected from the president next hour. 12:15, the president will talk about that. we will carry that for you live on cnn. and we are going now to syria. that's what it looks like, tens of thousands of syrians are holding demonstrations across the country today. this one is in hama. the crowd is chanting support for the people of homs who have been under heavy bombardment all week long. today's nationwide demonstrations were also called to show opposition to russia for its veto of a u.n. resolution condemning the violence. women and children are among hurricanes of civilians being killed and injured. >> this is one of the houses. look at these children. how can you stand and watch these children be like this? >> the activists you just saw with those children will join us at the bottom of the hour. amazing stories to tell you. more amazing images coming into cnn. this is chaos outside the greek parliament. protesters there are furious over the cuts in the country's budget. now, top european leaders are saying those spending cuts aren't deep enough. they're demanding more aggressive measures and unions are respond wg a two-day strike. traders on wall street are watching all this european instability and right now, you can see the dow is trading low. 115. and we will continue to check that. it is down 115 points. stand by. for more live from the stock market coming up. jerry sandusky back in court today. prosecutors are asking a judge to forbid him from going outside his own home. sandusky lives next door to a school playground. he is accused of sexually abusing young boys over a 15-year period. prosecutors say neighbors have expressed quote grave concerns about seeing sandusky outside. the former coach wants a judge to allow him to visit his grandchildren. what a horrifying scene. want you to look at this schoolbus. fully engulfed in flames. listen to that. that is in charlotte, north carolina. what you don't see are are the six elementary school kids who all got off safely thanks to the quick work of their bus driver, lindora richardson. >> at this time, i just decided to stop, park, get the kids. and get me and the kids to safety. they saw the smoke and they were heroes as well because they did not panic and when i did see the smoke, i did ask them to go to the back of the bus. away from the smoke and as i secured the bus and made sure the bus wasn't going anywhere, i went to the back of the bus and used the emergency exit and got them all off. >> we asked richardson what she was going to do today, she says she's getting a new bus and going to go back to work. same route, same kids. charlotte fire department will honor her next week. congratulations to her. call it the political equivalent of preaching to the converted, but for the republican presidential candidates, it could be the biggest sermons of their political careers. they're addressing the conservative conference in washington. it's considered the largest and most influential gathering of conservatives in this country. the crowd just heard from rick santorum. mitt romney, newt gingrich coming up a little later on today. you'll hear from them on cnn as well. want to bring in wolf blitzer. he is in our d.c. bureau. jim acosta is at the cpac meeting. santorum coming off his triple victory this week, was he able to build on that momentum in this speech or does that remain to be seen? >> i would say yes, don. this was a very well received speech from rick santorum. at one point, i think one of the highlights of the speech is when he referred to romneycare, the health care plan romney passed in massachusetts. he referred to that as a stepchild of obamacare. so some tough talk. i want to bring in now a key supporter, foster friess. you've been a key supporter for a super pac that has been very much supportive of rick santorum. at the beginning of your remarks, you told a joke and said that i'm paraphrasing her, that a liberal conservative and moderate walk into a bar and the bartender says, hi, mitt. there were some laughs, but also some boos. >> where do you suppose the boos came from? >> that was kind of tough. you think that was a good idea to tell that joke? >> i'm known to tell audience inappropriate jokes, so i became a christian a few years back. the downside, i have to maintain my best jokes at hunting camp. >> and let me ask you, this is a big day for rick santorum. why is it do you think that conservatives are taking a second look at his campaign because for a while there, it looked like he wasn't going to last long. >> i don't think they're taking a second look. i think they're taking a first look. he has not been running for six years for president. he swrus started a few months ago, so when they take their first look at him, they never said gee, i don't like this guy. they love everything about him. he has like a 75% approval rating and he's so likable and the fact he has all three legs of the reagan stool. he's a conservative in terms of authoring the iran security and freedom act, the syrian accountability act and so, he's been very forceful in the national arena standing up to the jihadists, being brave and taking on with what's happening. he's been running for five years. >> let me ask you about the donations to this super pac. you know, a lot of people are saying there's really no difference between the super pacs and these campaigns. when you look back at this campaign, you going to feel okay about all this money you put into the coffer of that super pac in is that you know, the best our democracy can do, do you think? >> oh, i'm just so excited about the fact that hopefully i can look back to this day and hopefully i had a big role in turning america back to our founding fathers. the crossing of delaware, washington saw blood in the snow. so i give maybe a million bucks or whatever sh it's nothing compared to these 18, 19-year-old kids who put a gun on their back and go to afghanistan and iraq. i'm kind of shoulder to shoulder with them to say what is america about? and so i can feel excited about playing a role in that. >> thanks so much for your time. good talking to you, sir. >> thank you so much. >> don, as you heard there, senator santorum is not hurting in terms of financial support. i was talking to foster before that live interview and he was saying maybe he doesn't need much of my help anymore because he's receiving so many individual donations coming in. and that is true. since tuesday night, more than a million dollars has come in and he was very well received. i would imagine the money's not going to stop. >> and not so fast because he said i want some of your wealth. you can go and he gave his website during the speech. i'm sure he'll take all the help he can get. i want to bring in wolf blitzer. we've been talking about president. expected to come out at 12:15 and to talk about this contraception ruling. the administration backtracking on the issue of contraception coverage that turned into a flash point really for conservatives and very religious people, christians, roman catholics and so on. how is this playing out for the administration and for the gop candidates as a matter of fact? >> it's not a good situation for the white house within a few days of making a major announcement then all of a sudden, backtrack and say you know what? we're going to come up with some new formula. they should have really done this in the weeks and months leading up to that decision by kathleen s kathleen sebelius. they knew the catholic church, the bishops across the country, were going to be opposed to mandating that catholic institutions, not churches, but university, hospitals, charities, are forced to provide the kind of birth control pills, the health insurance that would pay for contraception and they knew there was going to be an angry reaction from the catholic church and bishops and obviously, they didn't fully appreciate how angry that was going to be and the potential for a lot of catholics out there and others. not just catholics, to be upset by the white house decision. so now the president is going to have to come out and explain. he's going to do this on the 12:00 hour. he's going to explain yes, here's what the administration is going to mandate and they're going to try to fin nis this and point to some examples. for example, in hawaii, the issue between the rights of women to get the kind of birth control pills and contraceptions they need obviously, but at the same time, not forcing the catholic church and other churches, other religious institutions to go against their religious values, so it's a sensitive issue. difficult issue and it's not one the white house is looking that great on because it was mishandled, i think it's fair to say, in terms of the communications in terms of how they did this. >> you have to come back and do backtracking, i think you're correct on that. >> it's the last thing the president wants to do now is have to explain what they should have done earlier on before this uproar developed. >> thank you. we're standing by for the president, wolf is as well. going to talk about social issues, religion, the economy. wolf will be back with us to talk about some of the issues in focus at the cpac conference and what the president is doing in the next two hours. what conservatives want to hear as well at that conference. here's your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. forget the candidate's stands on the economy, immigration. we want you to weigh in on their music play list. remember, these blasts from the pasts? listen. ♪ well i was born in a small town ♪ ♪ ♪ here we go they're designed to get the crowds at the campaign events pumped up. check out some of the songs on president obama's play list. he's got sometha franklin, dare rouse rucker and yes, al green. ♪ >> not bad. simon cowell could never say the president was a little pitchy. the president's crooning boosted sales for al greene, but not all are thrilled. newt gingrich's turning to the heavies, how do you like me now, after his win in south carolina, but the band did not like that at all. and served the gingrich campaign with a cease and desist letter. mitt romney's main campaign anthem, take a listen. ♪ i was born free i was born >> that is kid rock born free. does that inspire you? what do you think should be on the candidate's play list? pick a candidate. pick a song. put them on my facebook page. don lemon cnn on facebook. we'll air some of your responses later this hour. we have a look at the rundown of some of the stories we're covering for you. >> you know, i was married for 23 years to the love of my life and he died six years ago. >> a washington state lawmaker shares her personal story of love and loss and her support for same-sex marriage. don't want to miss that. and later on, new violence, different city. dozens of people are reported killed. we'll go live to syria, then it's grammy weekend and chris brown returns to perform three years after his arrest for all the. the judge has also ruled on whether to end brown's probation. vacations are always wasn'ta good ideaa ♪ priceline negoti - - no time. out quickly. you're miles from your destination. you'll need a hotel tonight we don't have time to bid you don't have to bid. at priceline you can choose from thousands of hotels on sale every day. save yourself... some money ♪[music plays] ♪[music plays] purina one beyond. food for your cat or dog. forty years ago, he wasn't looking for financial advice. back then he had something more important to do. he wasn't focused on his future. but fortunately, somebody else was. at usaa we provide retirement planning for our military, veterans and their families. now more than ever, it's important to get financial advice from people who share your military values. for our free usaa retirement guide, call 877-242-usaa. actually, head & shoulders is for more than dandruff. it gives me a healthy scalp and great looking hair. does it do anything else for you? 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[ male announcer ] head & shoulders. 7 benefits. 1 bottle. ...we inspected his brakes for free. free is good. free is very good. my money. my choice. my meineke. one political activist calls it the center of gravity for conservatives right now and we're talking about the cpac meeting in washington. so what exactly is it? cpac stands for conservative political action conference. it was founded back in 1973 as a small gathering of dedicated conservatives. it's now an annual gathering of party activists and elected officials from around the country. it has grown to include thousands of attendees. the conference ends tomorrow with the highly anticipated straw poll of republican presidential candidates. more important this year because it's an election year. three of the four candidates are speaking at the conference today. they're trying to rally supporters and appeal oth conservative base. wolf blitzer joining us now. let's talk more about the major issues of the year now. we talked about the contraception issue earlier. the economy of course. what do conservatives listening for? what do they want to hear? >> less government spending. that's issue number one for so many of these conservatives. they love it when they hear these candidates say they're going to cut government spending. shrink the size of government. get government as they say off their back. that's music to their years. they want to hear that. they want to hear that the next president will repeal the health care law. in of these republican candidates say that. they want to see less taxes. they want to see a lot of them wabt to see a flat tax if you will or a fair tax. that's a very important issue. on all the domestic issues, the economic issues, there will be clear differences between any of these republican candidates on the one hand and the president of the united states on the other hand. there will be a clear line of difference. on national security, they want to have a strong national security. they want to make sure they hear all the important lines about protecting the u.s. military and defense spending. strong support for israel will always get a very good line going after al-qaeda going after iran. going after terrorists. that will always get a big round of applause at the same time. then on the social issues like an antiabortion rights for women on a lot of these other issues like gay marriage, that will get a big ride. in the santorum speech we just saw, we didn't hear him address a lot of these social issues, but i think it's fair to say these conservatives gathering, they know where he stands on so many of these issues. he really didn't have to underscore that. i suspect mitt romney will probably get into it more. >> what you just talked about, the contraception issue, same-sex marriage, that has fired up the conservative base. we're expecting the president to come out, 12:15, to address this, a possible compromise. that's fired up the base. what does it mean for the obama campaign here having to do that? >> well, on the one hand, they want to make sure that women, a key base of the democratic party, are going to support the president and support democrats, so when they say that women as part of the president's health care reform law starting later this year, that all women will be eligible for contraception for birth control pills, they won't have to make copays to their insurance companies, that's something that will be appealing to a lot of women. they're also going to stress you're going to get that benefit just as all other women employees will be getting that benefit, but we're not going to force the religious institutions where you work for example let's say georgetown university hospital here in washington, catholic charities. they employ a lot of women. they're going to be able to get that benefit, but they're going to finesse it in a way where the catholic bishops will not have to directly be responsible. i'm not sure this compromise that the president is getting ready to announce is going to satisfy the catholic bishops. i suspect they won't be completely satisfied, but we'll see how it plays out. >> it's going to be interesting, too, to watch and listen to what happens from the pulpits across the country come this sunday. we'll be checking back with you. you heard wolf talk about the issue of same-sex marriage and you don't have to be gay to make a stand for gay rights. here's an example. a republican state lawmaker did that this week in the battle to pass washington's new same-sex marriage bill. maureen wallach told her colleagues that everyone should have the opportunity to experience the kind of love she shared with her late husband. >> when i think of my husband and i think of all the wonderful years we had and the wonderful fringe benefit of having three beautiful children, i don't miss the sex. you know? and to me, that's kind of what this boils down to. is i don't miss that. i mean, i certainly miss it, but it's not -- it is certainly not the aspect of that relationship, that incredible bond that i had with that human being, that i really, really genuinely wish i still had. and so, i just, i think to myself, how could i deny anyone the right to have that incredible bond with another individual in life? to me, it seems almost cruel. >> she says she was able to hold back the tears until after the speech when she got a text from her lesbian daughter that read, you rock, mom. washington is expected to become the seventh state to legalize same-sex marriage on monday. a man takes lessons he learned in beating addiction here and turns them into a source of support for others. we'll introduce you to the first cnn hero of 2012. we have a lot happening here. very full day of news. you're looking at live pictures of the white house because the president is going to come out at 12:15. he's going to talk about a compromise in the controversial contraception ruling. he will announce the details at 12:15. shortly after this, the person you want to hear from could get answers. kathleen sebelius will join me live here on cnn. stay tuned. so today, we're honoring the first cnn hero of 2012. an every day person changing the world. his name is scott strode. after beating his addiction to drugs and alcohol, he used sports to fill the void left behind and what works for scott is now helping hundreds of others stay sober while experiencing a healthy high. >> i get on my bike and go ride up in the mountains. it really just brings peace and in my drug and alcohol use, it was the opposite. i got into it pretty young. by the time i was 15, i was using pretty serious drugs. when i got sober, i lost my group of friends because they were still out drinking and using. i got into boxing, triathlon. climbing. i had this new group of friends. i completely redefined myself. i want to help people find a better life being sober. welcome to friday night climbing. it's good to see you here. we offer about 50 events a week. all the programs are free to anyone who has 48 hours sober. you see that you're capable of whatever you put your mind to. we have this common connection, so it's easy to make new friends. we do bike rides, hiking, triathlon training, strength traininging. . it really is just a new community of folks to hang out with. i'm an example of hitting rock bottom. i had a heroin overdose. they had to jump-start me with the paddles. going out biking and going boxing, hitting the bag really fills the void. phoenix is the best support for the record. >> we're having fun and we're proud of being soeb eer, r so come out and go climbing with us. >> you know, cnn heroes are all chosen from people you tell us about. to nominate someone from your community, go to cnnheroes.com. your nomination could help them help others. weight loss programs can be expensive. so to save some money, i just got the popular girls from the local middle school to follow me around. ew. seriously? 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[ major nutrition ] ensure. nutrition in charge! it is a who's who of right wing movers and shakers. cpac and some big names will be taking the stage today to strut their stuff and rally the cause. we just heard from rick santorum. his rivals, mitt romney, newt gingrich will be speaking later this afternoon. there's still a lot of politics playing out behind the scenes. paul steinhauser r reports. >> up in the poll room, that's where everybody is speaking, but down here, this is where a lot of action is taking place cht this is where the conservative groups have their exhibits. come on. it's quite all right. this is the heritage foundation. the gran daddy of think tanks. they're reaching out to supporters and others here. teaparty.net, they have a booth here as well. let's talk a walk down here. i know you talk to erick erickson a bunch. redstate.com. here is their booth of course and what they're doing here and all these people are doing are reaching out, trying to bring more people to their websites, to their organizations. citizens united, as you can see, the supreme court rules goes on. here's their booth and dvds are for sale. a lot of action here. also, besides the speeches and besides down here, you've got a lot of the candidates talking behind closed doors. a lot of the action at c cpac not on the stage. >> thank you, sir. a birth defect isn't stopping big league dreams for one georgia boy. you have to see this 6-year-old play baseball. so who ordered the cereal that can help lower cholesterol and who ordered the yummy cereal? yummy. [ woman ] lower cholesterol. [ man 2 ] yummy. i got that wrong didn't i? [ male announcer ] want great taste and whole grain oats that can help lower cholesterol? honey nut cheerios. football season is history. baseball right around the corner and today's human factor, dr. sanjay gupta introduces us to a boy who wants to play baseball and won't let anything get in his way. >> he can hit. field the ball. even slide into home plate. >> give me five. >> all the way around the bases. >> 6-year-old reece holloway wants to play in the big leagues some day, just like his favorite player, chipper jones of the atlanta braves. when reece was born, his parents were shocked to discover he didn't have a left hand and baseball was the furthest thing from their minds. >> how's he going to tie his shoes, how's he going to do everything. >> it was a hard, hard thing. >> they weren't sure if he'd learn to crawl without a second hand, so they got him a pros thesis, but he didn't want it. >> he didn't like it at all. he cried and cried and cried cht. >> he did learn to crawl and walk. and then something remarkable happened. reece taught himself how to hit a ball when he was just 2 years old. >> he put them under his chin and hit the ball. no problem. >> reece is a fan of all sports, but baseball is his favorite. >> he loves playing baseball. that's all he does. 24/7. use your other hand, too. >> on or off the field, reece doesn't get any special treatment. >> we make him make his bed or pick this up. we make it a fun thing. >> we don't hold nothing back. >> and as far as the holloways are concerned, reece doesn't have a disability. >> i was born like that. >> like other boys his age, he can do lots of things. he does flips on the family trampoline. he can break dance. even those snaps are a bit of a challenge. >> the only thing he can't do is tie his shoe. >> nothing stands in the way of baseball. he's a natural talent and his parents believe children like their son should never be held back. >> they want to try it, let him try it. >> very nice. go, reece. we're hearing a lot of speeches from the republican candidates today, but the speeches aren't the only things they want you to listen to. they want you to get talked out by the music they play at campaign stops. listening to james taylor's smiling face. on president obama's play list. one of my favorite artists, by the way. our talk back question of the day. what song do you think the candidates should put on their play lists? somebody b mentioned zeppelin. go to facebook.com/don lemon. your responses are coming up. all right. just looking at some of your response here on social media. now it's your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. what do you think should be on the candidate's play list? just want to say this one is facebook. edge of glory someone said, lady gaga. what's going on. zeppelin was one. so thank you for that. this is what paul said on facebook. definitely mitt should use a pat boone song except mitt isn't as hip as pat boone. mandatory for every candidate, respect. flag ship version or any remix before any of them begin speaking. here's what rhonda writes. for ron paul, off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of oz. jay, "born in the u.s.a.." that was interesting. cheney says we can debate as much as we want. they're all going to be listening to bieber. obviously a bieber fan. thanks to all of you for writing in. that was fun. by the way, the producer said oh, my gosh, your facebook fans are crazy. got like 70 responses in a minute. love you guys. thanks very much. this year's grammy awards ceremony is just two days away. sunday's celebration will feature the return of chris brown. it will be his first appearance at the grammy's since he pleaded guilty to assaulting rihanna. a.j. hammer has the details on that. we love to see the grammys, but there's an interesting twist. >> this is a very big deal because it was exactly three years ago on the eve of the 2009 grammy awards that chris assaulted his girlfriend, rihanna, and he hasn't appeared at the show since. this year, he is up for three. he's going to be performing sunday night and i've got to believe he is inevitably hoping this return will help people move on from that chapter of his life. he's been hard at work there rehearsing for a performance that he hopes everybody will be talking about him for the right reasons. rihanna is performing at the show. she's up for four awards. brown is still on probation, but has been commended for his work. last year, a judge relaxed the restraining order against him. there's no restriction on him contacting rihanna or being in the same location or same red carpet as her. literally, he is just prevented from harassing her, so it's going to be interesting to me to see what kind of reaction he gets from the crowd from the audience and the public after sunday night. he's still got a lot of supporter, but i believe he has a lot of minds to change. >> and we'll be talking about him i'm sure the following day and week to see what happens. for those of us who are you know, maybe a wee bit older than 30 remember the next group. another must see. the reunion of the beach boys. >> everybody knows the beach boys. it doesn't matter how old you are, don. come on, man. this is a big deal and it will introduce them to new generations of fans. all surviving members will be on the same stage together sunday night. the founding members. they've been with the band for almost 50 years. it's the first time in almost 20 years that these guys will be sharing the stage together. "showbiz tonight" just caught up with them last night and here's what they had to tell us. >> it's a nice feeling. very productive kind of thing. we don't fool around, you know. when it comes to singing, of course we don't fool around. >> brian and i cowrote that song good vibrations. he did a brilliant job on job on the track. it's so fantastic being able to reunit on a grammy stage for the world to hear and see. >> it's fantastic. >> the world will hear and see those great harmonies once again and this kicks off a new start for the beach boys. they are firing up a 50-city tour in april and plan on releasing a new album this year. get ott your beach ball and your hawaiian print shirt. the beach boys are back, baby. >> showing your age. thank you very much. appreciate it. want everything breaking in the entertainment world? a.j.'s got it tonight on hln. 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[ female announcer ] yoplait. it is so greek. yeah, you -- you know, everything can cost upwards of...[ whistles ] i did not want to think about that. relax, relax, relax. look at me, look at me. three words, dad -- e-trade financial consultants. so i can just go talk to 'em? just walk right in and talk to 'em. dude, those guys are pros. they'll hook you up with a solid plan. they'll -- wa-- wa-- wait a minute. bobby? bobby! what are you doing, man? i'm speed dating! for your family at e-trade. right now to syria. there's the bombing. that's the city of homs. it's been under heavy bombardment by syrian government forces all week long. hundreds, hundreds are dead. women, children, old people are included. a young activist there has been risking his life by lines. take a listen. >> mortar bombs and tank shells and rockets. you can see up there in the buildings. here on the ground you can see how the rockets have landed here. these are civilian bodies. this isn't the army. these are children, men, women being killed. where's the u.n.? >> we don't want monitors again. we want the u.n. to interfere with the army. four people are dead in this house. four civilians. >> despite that government crackdown, protesters continue to take to the streets. many are chanting "russia is killing our children" after a veto of the u.n. -- joining me now from new york, vitaly cherkin, a russian ambassador to the u.n. why veto this? >> because the draft resolution contained a major flaw. it did speak to the end of the government to end fighting but it didn't have anything about armed opposition groups. it seemed from the developments in the past few weeks that the major problem was that as the opposition -- as the government forces were moving out of the cities, armed extremist groups were moving in. that fed into further violence. so had that resolution been adopted, our fear was that the opposition, the extreme armed opposition, would believe that they're now prepared for another push at the government. and that, of course, would spell disaster. it would spell a civil war. what needs to be done now is ending violence on all sides, strengthening the -- returning and strengthening the monetary mission. maybe u.n. money. having a new constitution adopted and multi-party elections conducted, general elections conducted in syria. this is the essence of our strategy which we have been trying to promote in our contacts with da mas kas with the opposition, with the arab league and our partners in the security council. >> something you're not mentioning, russian leaders are also saying, at least one said, that be adopting this current resolution, that he believes that it would risk taking sides in a civil war here. but then -- >> listen. if you ask me a question, i'll answer. >> really what was horrible is not acting at all, that would be -- you'd be more complicit there? >> if you ask me a question, i'll answer it. if you want me to interpret something's statements i haven't seen, i cannot do that. the visit to damascus was extremely important. there's a strategy we can pursue including in the security council. also we got a commitment from president assad that those monitors will be able to deploy in all hot spots. in accordance with the arab league plan is given all the powers in order to negotiate with the opposition. we need to put all the parties -- bring them to the table and have real national dialogue start which will lead to fundamental transformation of the syrian political system. >> you know, i want to ask you if you -- if you ever considered or you and your cohorts considered that you would be, as i said, be complicit in people being killed here. secretary of state hillary clinton from munich says to block this resolution, mr. ambassador, so to bear responsibility for the horrors that are occurring on the ground in syria. how do you respond that? >> well, i hope -- i hope at some point our western colleagues will finally understand that their strategy of frontal assault on the current regime in syria spells disaster and civil war. they keep saying that they understand that syria's not libya. but i cannot see that they understand what it actually means. it actually means that president assad in contrast to gadhafi does enjoy considerable popular support. he has not alienated his political elite has mr. gadhafi has done and he does have real armed forces which are nonexistent in libya. if they want to start fire in syria that will have major regional consequences and, in fact, i think will affect the interests of united states and europe. they are teetering on the brink of economic crisis. this is an area where results could be not only political but economic. i'm really perplexed they don't understand the consequences of their own strategy. we're trying to turn things around towards a political solution, end of violence, working together with the united states, europe, arab league, syrian government and opposition. this is the only way to prevent further dramatic escalation of the conflict in syria. >> thank you for joining us, sir. it is a who's who of right wing movers and shaker. we're going to go live now to cpac, the conservative political action conference, and some big names will be taking the stage today to strut their stuff and rally the cause. we heard from rick santorum, his rivals mitt romney and newt gingrich will both be speaking a little bit later on this afternoon. we'll bring that to you live. my mother froze everything. i was 18 years old before i had my first fresh bun. the invention that i came up with is the hot dog ez bun steamer. steam is the key to a great hot dog. i knew it was going to be a success. the invention was so simple that i knew i needed to protect it. my name is chris schutte and i got my patent, trademark and llc on legalzoom. 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[ major nutrition ] ensure. nutrition in charge! until the end of the quarter to think about your money... ♪ that right now, you want to know where you are, and where you'd like to be. we know you'd like to see the same information your advisor does so you can get a deeper understanding of what's going on with your portfolio. we know all this because we asked you, and what we heard helped us create pnc wealth insight, a smarter way to work with your pnc advisor, so you can make better decisions and live achievement. a smarter way to work with your pnc advisor, ah, welcome to hotels.com. i get it...guys weekend. yeah! if you're looking for a place to get together, you came to the right place. because here at hotels.com, we're only about hotels. yeah! yeah! noooo. yeah! finding you the perfect place is all we do. welcome to hotels.com developing news. you're about to hear from jerry sandusky. . you know the former defensive coach from penn state? he's back in court today. our jason carroll covering it live for us in bellefonte, pennsylvania. what's going on, jason? >> reporter: this was a hearing today, don, used to review a number of different topics. namely bail modification for jerry sandusky. basically what was happening today, the prosecution wanted sandusky's bail conditions to be restricted. currently, as you know, he's under house arrest. well, there have been a number of complaints within the neighborhood, namely people saying that they've seen jerry sandusky outside of his home. there was some concerns about that. from the defense's point of view, the defense says, well, we think that the bail conditions should be loosened, if you will. that one of the points being made was that jerry sandusky should be able to have visitation rights with his grandchild. so that's what was discussed. a number of things, legal issues, discussed during the hearing today. but that was one point jerry sandusky himself addressed when he came out just a few moments ago outside the courthouse. take a listen to what he had to say. >> i have a wife who came home after visiting with grandchild or who's sitting there when grandchild call on my birthday, and they ask to talk to me, and she has to tell them that they can't. i'm sensitive to that. or when she comes home from visiting with grandchild and tells me that one of them said that the only thing i want for my birthday is to be able to see papa. i'm sensitive to that. that's why i came today. >> reporter: one of the first times that we have heard from jerry sandusky addressing the media in this way. obviously, both sides, don, were argued in the court. the prosecution saying being in house arrest is a privilege. it is not a house party. that is what the prosecution is saying. the defense basically saying that, look, even if this man incarcera incarcerated, he would be allowed to have visitors. the judge is taking it under consideration and will issue a ruling on monday. >> jason carroll. thank you, jason. all right, everyone. fasten your seat belts. whole lot of news going on today. the top of the hour. i'm don lemon. i want to get you up to speed right now. his rivals have been calling it a war on religion. now the president appears ready to walk back a new policy that would have made catholic institutions responsible for their employees' birth control costs. today after weeks of political pressure, a big turnaround to tell you about. we're waiting to hear from the president himself at any moment. that's why you're seeing live pictures of the white house. we're going to bring that to you live. as soon as he walks out, should happen at 12:15. he often walks out earlier. we'll get to it as soon as it happens. let's talk about the politics and the fallout over contraceptive coverage. wolf blitzer joins us live along with our chief white house correspondent jessica yellin and senior congressional correspondent dana bash. jessica, we're going to go to your first. the obama administration has come up with a compromise. what do you know about it? what can you tell us? >> the compromise effectively, don, means that women who work at religiously oriented organizations still get full contraception coverage, but their employers do not have to pay for it. so that the catholic hospitals and catholic universities will not have to actually have coverage that they're paying for provide birth control. but the women there get it. the workaround is that the administration is compelling insurance companies to provide the coverage themselves. so the burden will now be on the insurance companies. so far, liberal catholic organizations or left leaning catholic organizations are applauding the decision. and there is silence from the more conservative catholics. i can tell you that the president made calls to the head of planned parenthood, the head of a religious catholic organization that's left leaning, and both of those groups came out applauding the decision. he also called archbishop dolan of d.c. who has not issued a statement yet, don. >> very interesting. you talked about conservative catholics. is the obama campaign just concerned that this would hurt him with catholic voters and do they think this will repair any damage? >> frankly, no. i mean, the bottom line on this one is that the politics of it have caused a lot of drama. but it actually is kind of helpful among certain key demographics. women voters, young voters and certain blocks of liberal catholic voters. their thinks is this compromise, if it quiets out the media drama could actually help them out in the end. because it's energized certain blocks and the people who were conservative catholics weren't going to vote for the president in their analysis in the end anyway, don. >> stand by. we're waiting for the president to come out shortly here. we'll carry it for you live. to wolf blitzer now. wolf, i know what you think. i spoke to you last hour. i don't want to put words in your mouth. you said it's fair to say this was handled poorly, at least in your estimation. did the administration wait too long to try and resolve this issue. >> i think they should have worked all of this out long before kathleen sebelius, secretary of health and human services, made her announcement a couple weeks ago of this new policy that would give basically these catholic institutions like universities, hospitals, charities that employ a lot of people, a year in which there would be a grace period in which the new policy for everyone else would go into effect. they should have really worked this out in advance. they knew there would be opposition from the catholic bishops across the country. and i think they could have fi neszed it in a better way. there was a fierce debate. i don't know, fierce maybe is not the right word. but a significant debate within the white house itself on this policy including some of the pop catholics in the obama administration like the vice president, joe biden, the former white house chief of staff, bill daley. and some others who were saying you know what, mr. president? maybe we shouldn't go this far and force these religious institutions to do this. the president, though, sided with many of the women who were saying to him, you know what? you've got to do this. you can't discriminate against women who work for -- for institutions that have nothing to do with a religion like the catholic church and other women. all the women have to get this benefit. no co-pay for birth control pills, for contraceptions across the board. so there was a significant debate. the president sided with the women. now he's going to have to come out and clarify and come up with this new policy. my own sense is that they probably would have been so much better off over these past two weeks if they had just resolved it, then announced two weeks ago what the president is going to announce today and work with the catholic church, work with others who were concerned. because now the republicans, whether it's mitt romney or -- >> seizing on it. >> -- rick santorum or newt gingrich, they have a huge issue. they're going to be continuing to say this is a president who has a war on religion. rick perry, the governor of texas, when he was a republican presidential candidate, he was always saying that this president has a war on religion. this was supposedly an issue that would have reinforced that. >> wolf, dana's going to talk a little bit more about that. perhaps a leading woman voice on this is the health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius. and she is going to join me here shortly after the president speaks, as soon as the president comes on, he's going to talk. we'll carry it for you live. then kathleen sebelius will join us to answer some of those questions. >> ask her, don, when you get a chance, ask her why didn't they make this compromise, what the president is announcing today and the new policy, why didn't they do that two weeks ago when she announced the policy? >> writing it down now. two weeks ago announce the policy. >> if she's watching us right now, she'll have some time to prepare her answer. >> stand by. we'll be getting back to you. now i want to go back to dana bash and talk a little bit more about what wolf was talking about. the republicans pounced on this, calling it a war on religion. will they continue to get political mileage out of this? they're already seizing on it. >> i guarantee they're not going to stop seizing on it. as you were talking to wolf i literally got a text back with one of rick santorum's top aides with him at the cpac conference here in washington. his response was shifting the burden to the insurers is not the point. taking our freedom is. that, i think, pretty much sums up why republican candidates in particular feel like they got so much, as you say, mileage out of it. listen to what rick santorum said this morning on this issue before he knew about this compromise. >> ladies and gentlemen, this st kind of coercion that we can expect. it's not about contraception. it's about economic liberty. it's about freedom of speech. it's about freedom of religion. it's about government control of your lives, and it's got to stop! >> so you hear there, i just want to add to what wolf said. wolf said the republican candidates are making this about the president having a war on religion. that is absolutely true. in addition to that what they have been saying is this is another example of president obama putting the heavy hand of government on our liberties. as several republican strategists i've talked to today say, that this really helped them put into focus the whole idea that they have been trying to get across even to some independent voters, that during the obama administration, there has just been too many mandates. whether it's on health care in general or something as specific as contraceptive care. i just add to that, we're talking about the presidential field on capitol hill where they're probably not going to let go of this either. one of the top republicans in the senate, roy blunt, he tweeted out this morning that unless president obama is reversing the mandate, there is no compromise when it comes to freedom. roy blunt is not only a republican leader in the senate, he also happens to be the liaison for mitt romney in congress. >> dana bash standing by in washington. jessica jellen standing by in washington. wolf blitzer standing by as well. thank you very much. we're standing by for the president to speak at any moment now on that controversial contraception ruling. expected to walk some of it back. the president's going to speak. kathleen sebelius, the health and human services secretary going to join us right after that. right now in washington, republican activists are gathered at the conservative political action conference known as cpac. you're looking at live pictures right here on cnn. mitt romney goes before the crowd this hour, and we'll bring it to you live for sure. earlier we heard rick santorum make his pitch. he's telling conservatives -- you heard dana bash. they don't have to compromise on their principles to win the white house. more of rick santorum right now. >> ladies and gentlemen, as president of the united states, we will surround ourselves with people who share our values, committed to the principles that made this country great, leaders of the conservative movement. >> find out what conservative activists are hoping to hear from the presidential candidates. i'm going to talk to a couple of young republicans at the cpac conference coming up at the bottom of the hour on cnn. live pictures of the white house now. back pedalling on a controversial new policy that has the catholic church crying foul. the president expected to come out at any moment. we're going to dig deeper into the birth control debate, hear from the president himself about the new plan. don't go anywhere. you'll hear it all. ♪ [ telephone rings ] [ laughs ] [ mayhem ] please continue to hold. the next available claims representative will be with you in 97 minutes. 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[ major nutrition ] ensure. nutrition in charge! welcome back, everyone. we're following developing news. let's get a live picture now of the briefing room. because that's where the president is going to speak. there's a live picture of the white house as well. white house about to walk back a controversial policy, at least parts of it, that would have forced catholic institutions to pay for their employees' birth control. more like a revision, you can call it, is what we're expecting. that didn't go over well with catholic leaders, the initial announcement of that ruling two weeks ago. and the republicans pounced on that. we're waiting to hear from president live at any minute now about this new compromise, this new revision. and we're going to bring that to you live. standing by to talk about it, folks here who know everything about politics. our chief white house correspondent jessica yellin and wolf blitzer as well. wolf, let's talk about this. because it's a precarious position for the president, as you have been saying, in an election year. swing voters, women, conservative christians or just christians in general who may not -- who may not like this ruling. and now he's having to revise it or walk some parts of it back. >> yeah. that's the politically sort of embarrassing thing. they should have worked all of this out long before the announcement a couple weeks ago. they should have made sure that they explained fully to the catholic bishops, they heard all of the concerns. this has been well known for months and months that they were going to have to make a very sensitive decision. as i pointed out, there was a significant debate within the white house, what to do, and various forces were pretty ardent on this. the president sided with those who said, you know what? they're going to have to go forward with it, give a grace period of a year for these catholic institutions like universities and hospitals, catholic charities, to sort things out. but it really created a firestorm. it's rare that you hear these catholic bishops across the country -- not only here in washington, but in new york and california, go out there and really say this is totally, totally unacceptable. >> all in unison. >> oh, yeah. they were so adamant. the last thing the president in his re-election campaign needs right now is the catholic bishops and the catholic hierarchy, catholic church on his back saying you're forcing us to violate some of our basic principles as catholics. that's not a good situation for an incumbent president seeking re-election to begin. >> i don't want to cut you off. we got the two minute warning about a minute ago. i wanted to get jessica in before the president comes out. jessica, you're there covering the white house. what has the sense been like, what has the mood been like? do you know, did they feel it at the white house, ugh, this wasn't handled so well? >> they know they botched this one, don. what they didn't do, and i know it's not only from inside the white house, but from talking to religious leaders on the outside, they didn't do the normal outreach that is supposed to come along with this sort of announcement. they knew this was going to be controversial. and they sort of assumed it would be baked in. so they'll sort of take their lumps. and what they needed to do is exactly what wolf said, outreach, build support, figure it out in advance. and they just didn't do it. and the white house, you know, now you'll hear the president come out and essentially say this -- >> jessica, i have to cut you off. here comes the president of the united states. >> hello, everybody. i was actually going to say good morning. but i guess it's afternoon by now. as part of the health care reform law that i signed last year, all insurance plans are required to cover preventive care at no cost. that means free check-ups, free mammograms, immunizations and other basic services. we fought for this because it saves lives and it saves money. for families, for businesses, for government, for everybody. and that's because it's a lot cheaper to prevent an illness than to treat one. we also accepted a recommendation from the experts at the institute of medicine that when it comes to women, preventive care should include coverage of contraceptive services such as birth control. in addition to family planning, doctors often prescribe contraception as a way to reduce the risk of ovarian and other cancers and treat a variety of different ailments. and we know that the overall cost of health care is lower when women have access to contraceptive services. nearly 99% of all women have relied on contraception at some point in their lives. 99%. and yet more than half of all women between the ages of 18 and 34 have struggled to afford it. so for all these reasons, we decided to follow the judgment of the nation's leading medical experts and make sure that free preventive care includes access to free contraceptive care. whether you're a teacher or a small businesswoman or a nurse or a janitor, no woman's health should depend on who she is or where she works or how much money she makes. every woman should be in control of the decisions that affect her own health. period. this basic principle is already the law in 28 states across the country. now, as we move to implement this rule, however, we've been mindful that there's another principle at stake here. and that's the principle of religious liberty. an inalienable right enshrined in our constitution. as a citizen and christian, i cherish this right. in fact, my first job in chicago was working with catholic parishes in poor neighborhoods. i saw local churches often did more good for a community than a government program ever could. so i know how important the work that faith-based organizations do and how much impact they can have in their communities. i also know that some religious institutions, particularly those affiliated with the catholic church, have a religious objection to directly providing insurance that covers contraceptive services for their employees. that's why we originally exempted all churches from this requirement. an exemgs, by the way, that eight states didn't already have. that's why from the very beginning of this process, i spoke directly to various catholic officials, and i promised that before finalizing the rule as it applied to them, we would spend the next year working with institutions like catholic hospitals and catholic universities to find an equitable solution that protects religious liberty and ensures that every woman has access to the care that she needs. now, after the many genuine concerns that have been raised over the last few weeks, as well as, frankly, the more cynical desire on the part of some to make this into a political football, it became clear that spending months hammering out a solution was not going to be an option. that we needed to move this faster. so last week i directed the department of health and human services to speed up the process that had already been envisioned. we weren't going to spend a year doing this. we were going to spend a week or two doing this. today we've reached a decision on how to move forward. under the rule, women will still have access to free preventive care. that includes contraceptive services. no matter where they work. so that core principle remains. but if a woman's employer is a charity or a hospital that has a religious objection to providing contraceptive services as part of their health plan, the insurance company, not the hospital, not the charity, will be required to reach out and offer the woman contraceptive care free of charge without co-pays and without hassles. the result will be that religious organizations won't have to pay for these services, and no religious institution will have to provide these services directly. let me repeat. these employers will not have to pay for or provide contraceptive services. but women who work at these institutions will have access to free contraceptive services just like other women. and they'll no longer have to pay hundreds of dollars a year that could go towards paying the rent or buying groceries. now, i've been confident from the start that we could work out a sensible approach here. just as i promised. i understand some folks in washington may want to treat this as another political wedge issue. but it shouldn't be. i certainly never saw it that way. this is an issue where people of goodwill on both sides of the debate have been sorting through some very complicated questions to find a solution that works for everyone. with today's announcement, we've done that. religious liberty will be protected, and a law that requires free preventive care will not discriminate against women. now, we live in a pluralistic society where we're not going to agree on every single issue or share every belief. that doesn't mean that we have to choose between individual liberty and basic fairness for all americans. we are unique among nations for having been founded upon both these principles. and our obligation as citizens is to carry them forward. i have complete faith that we can do that. thank you very much, everybody. >> all right. the president there with health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius at his side. she's going to join us in just a couple minutes here on cnn, by the way. the president laid it out. wolf, dana, jessica, all standing by. it's interesting, wolf, you said they could have done this a few weeks ago if they worked it out. you did hear the president, wolf, saying, you know, i talked to several catholic organizations and we tried to talk this out. when we went into trying to figure out exactly what to do with this, and he said, i spoke with them. and he made it known. but the president saying any women, still, any woman who wants contraceptive services, who wants preventative care, they will get it and they won't be charged for it, no co-pay, the carrier has to make up the difference if they work for an organization that's opposed to this. >> it'll be interesting now, don, to see how the catholic hierarchy, the catholic bishops like bishop dolan and others react. the keyword that the president said was "directly." that these catholic institutions that run these hospitals or these universities or catholic charities, for example, they won't directly have to provide these contraceptive benefits, the birth control benefits, no co-pay, free of charge, to all of the women employees, whoever wants it, women employees of these institutions. they'll be able to get it indirectly from the health insurance companies that work with these institutions. and we're going to see now if the catholic leadership, if this is good enough for them. does this thread the needle, if you will, in making it clear that the catholic church is not going to violate a basic tenet they're opposed to contraceptions, birth control pills, and they don't want to have to pay it. whether or not this is going to satisfy them or it's not going to satisfy them. i'm sure it'll satisfy a lot of liberal catholic organizations and catholic institutions and a lot of catholics out there. but the question is will it satisfy the catholic bishops? we're going to find out pretty soon. i suspect -- i could be wrong. i suspect they're not going to be happy with this. >> i think you're right. the beckett fund funded the three lawsuits that have been filed. one of them by the christian cable news network, ewtn. they're calling it already a false compromise on this abortion -- what they call abortion drug mandate. i want to go to jessica now. jessica, it's not all over by the shouting now. clearly, the administration has their work to do in cleans up this even more. as you said, clearly, it was botched. >> yeah. there's no doubt about it. and they know that. but their goal here, don, to be clear, is to get the liberal catholics who are usually with them back with them. i mean, they don't hope to get the people who are their constant objectors won over. so there were some columnists in town here who had written skreeds against this. they want to get the op-ed columnists back on their side. it's their belief this will hopefully do that. their new chief of staff, jack lou, is going to be doing all the sunday shows this sunday. they clearly wanted this asked and answered before he had to go out and answer all these questions about it on sunday. there are all sorts of political considerations. this is not the issue they want to be discussing now. budget comes out next week. there are all sorts of other issues going into a presidential campaign. they'd rather try to address this and get it behind them. and they're hopeful that having some solution, and this is very similar to a solution that has worked in hawaii, and they can say, look, it's worked in other states and the catholic church has been fine with it in other states, so they can get it behind them. we'll see. >> dana bash, let's talk about the lawmakers. you heard -- you heard what jessica said. oh, you know, they want to win over some folks. but winning over lawmakers, really on both sides, it's going to be maybe difficult for the president because there may be democrats -- i'm just guessing here -- who may say the president sort of caved a bit. then the republicans are going to say, of course, he should have thought about this again. this is him making a mandate that americans don't want. >> exactly. but to jessica's point about the white house first and foremost wanting to get democrats who are traditionally with him back in the fold, so far that seems to be working. for example, senator patrick leahy of vermont, he is a catholic. he was not that thrilled about this. he just put out a statement saying that he's fine with this compromise. but more broadly, there's no question that republicans who saw this as a tremendous political gift for them and really seized on it, from their perspective, and they got a lot of mileage out of it, they're not going to let this go. not just for political reasons but also they insist for policy reasons. because it is, "a," an issue that does gin up the christian conservative vote. also, those tea party kind of voters. the people who say the government needs to just get off my back. this is perfect for them. and those aren't just republicans. those are also independents. that's the kind of thing that republicans do not want to let go. >> dana, jessica, wolf, i'm so glad you guys were here to help me out. thank you so much for adding your perspective, expertise on this. wolf, see you in "the situation room" a little later on. appreciate all of you. we're going to talk with someone from the beckett fund, the law firm that challenged the administration's contraceptive main date. we'll find out how they feel about this compromise. also, as i've been saying here, health and 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[ female announcer ] outlast your day, any day, with secret's 48-hour odor protection technology. new secret outlast. we're following two developing stories here on cnn. they're happening in washington but affect the entire country. you heard the president of the united states on cnn from the briefing room not long ago revise his plan on contraception when it comes to religious organizations. here's what the president said. he had to revise it. he said, this is what's new in the plan that's formerly announced. the white house is going to expand the -- exemption. kathleen sebelius is going to join us in a few minutes. several lawsuits have been filed. three of them at least. one of them full-timed by a christian cable news network, ewtn. all of them, all of them being funded by the beckett fund. luke goodrich with the beckett fund is going to join us in a few minutes to audiocassette about it. beckett fund already releasing a statement, of course, on the president's revision of this plan. we're going to talk to him, luke goodrich, and also kathleen see bell y sebelius coming up. we'll also take you to cpac. the conservatives' time to shine. a annual conference going on live. lots of coverage to come on cnn, and we have it for you. we're back right after a break. welcome back, everyone. the president walking back a deeply controversial decision that would have made catholic institutions responsible for the costs of their employees' birth control. >> everyone should be in control of the decisions that affect her own health, period. this basic principle is already the law in 28 states across the country. as we move to implement this rule, however, we've been mindful that there's another principle at stake here. and that's the principle of religious liberty. an inalienable right that's enshrined in our constitution. as a citizen and as a christian, i cherish this right. >> that was a president just moments ago. there you see her live standing on the white house lawn, secretary of health and human services, kathleen sebelius. she joins us now to talk more about this. thank you for joining us, secretary, are you able to hear me? >> i just lost volume. >> i think we have an issue. can you hear me, secretary? >> i can now, yes. >> thank you so much for joining us today. we appreciate this. listen, the right has been calling this -- and many people who are -- who are religious here calling it a war on religion. now after weeks of pressure from the president's rivals, you're changing your minds. everyone sees this as a politically motivated decision. so why didn't you make this change two weeks ago when you first released this policy? >> actually, we did announce this opportunity to give religious leaders who currently don't offer contraception coverage an additional year, with the full intention of working with stakeholders, looking at what's happening on the ground with the various catholic institutions in the 28 states who currently offer contraception coverage, and figure out some arrangements that both fulfilled religious liberty and made sure that women had access to this very important preventive services. we know that 99% of women across this country use contraception at some point in their lives. if it's not as part of their insurance plan, they often are paying hundreds of dollars trying to get this very important health service. so we announced from the beginning that we were going to work with stakeholders. the president, as he said today, given the concern that has developed, just asked us to speed up the process, so we did. we're pleased to announce the final rule which will be published later this afternoon will include this important balance. women will have access for the first time ever regardless of where they work to a critical preventive health benefit identified by the institute of medicine, used by 99% of the women, and we're respecting the religious freedom of employers who felt that offering this service directly was in violation of their conscience. we think this is a very good solution moving forward sf. >> secretary, here's the question. many are seeing this as, okay, two weeks later the president having to come back, clarify, walk back, revise, however you want to put it. and there was some concern, we were told, when all of the negotiations were going on and you were talking about it, there were people who were saying, listen, swing voters, for religious people, this may cost you some votes. it's going to be controversial. was there anyone, was there anyone who during this time threw their hands up and said, hey, listen, don't do this. this isn't going to work. we're going to get flak for this. >> you know, certainly as this whole discussion unfolded, there were lots of viewpoints, lots of stakeholder input. 200,000 comments that we received at our department. lots of different views. but at the end of the day, i think the president and i felt very strongly that two important principles had to be paramount. one, health benefits to women should not be determined by where she worked or what position she had or how much money she has. that goes on every day in america, and that should not be what we're looking forward to in the future. but, secondly, respecting religious liberty. that's why we said there would be an additional year. that's why we exempted from the outset churches and church-based organizations from this rule altogether. and i think, again, this is a solution that both meets the health mandates for women, the 99% of american women who use and access this benefit, and the religious principles of their employers. it's a solution that will make sure that women's preventive health benefits aren't determined by where she works in america any longer. >> yeah. listen, this is a very important issue. i could talk to you about it all day long. we have a short amount of time here. so i want to get this next question in and answer. a lot of catholic women take birth control, as the president mentioned. in fact, according to the study voted in the "washington post," again, as the president said, about 95% of american catholics say they have used contraceptives. do you get the sense the outrage of the original plan was manufactured to hurt the president politically with catholic voters? >> oh, i don't think that outside of some of the more cynical political folks who may be either on the campaign trail or inside the beltway, i think the -- a lot of the public outcry was urging us to find an appropriate balance. again, when we announced that we were going to finalize this rule, and that's really what we did. two weeks ago we made a statement that the exemption would stay the same. the president said, you've got to speak up that process. that's just what we're doing. so as of the end of today, the rule will be finalized. again, we look forward to a day where women can make their own decisions about their own health needs and those for their families and religious employers will be able to not violate what they see as religious objections to this particular service. >> secretary sebelius, thank you so much. >> sure, great to be with you. we want to move on now and talk to luke goodrich. he is with the beckett fund. several lawsuits have been filed. luke, i think it's three. at this point it's three. and your organization has funded them. you released a statement just a short time ago and this is the headline. you said the obama administration offers false compromise on abortion drug mandate. talk to me about that. >> well, the president is basically saying, trust me. i really respect conscience. i know we didn't get it right the first time with this rule. i know we didn't get it right the second time. but after the election i'm going to produce a really good religious exemption that's going to protect everybody. i can't give you the details. just wait until after the election, and everyone who has a religio religious exemption will be protected. >> one question i asked the secretary and which the president also mentioned during his news conference, there's a majority, small majority in polling that says that they like this plan. they want women, even if they work for religious organizations, to have contraception and preventative care. then there is the -- the study that was quoted in the "washington post" that the president mentioned as well, 95% of american catholics say they have used contraceptives. many have said that this is a manufactured controversy in an election year to make the president look bad. how do you respond to that? >> well, none of the organizations we rempresent are trying to stop people from getting contraception. it's already widely available. they're perfectly free to get it anywhere they'd like. but all these religious organizations are asking for is don't force us to pay with our own funds and provide something that we believe is truly immoral. that's what the old rule did. that's what a lot of organizations are still going to be forced to do even after the announcement of this supposed compromise. >> so there is -- clear of just saying we don't want to do it, is there anything that would appease your organization or stop the lawsuits? what would? >> sure. just allowing any religious organization that has a religious objection to providing or paying for these services and say, if you have religious objection, you don't have to do it. but this supposed compromise leaves out hundreds, if not thousands, of religious groups. if you self-insure like our client ewtn does, you're an insurer. you're going to have to be forced to pay it. you're forced to violate religious beliefs. individuals who own small businesses are not covered by this supposed compromise. they're going to be forced to violate their religious beliefs, too. at the end of the day what this supposed compromise really is, is an accounting gimmick. the administration says you have to provide insurance to your employees. and so every religious organization in the country is going to be providing insurance. then they say, well, it won't be your money that goes to it. it'll be the insurance company that will provide it for free. but a lot of religious organizations are going to have a problem with that, too, because it's their money that's buying the insurance. and it's their insurance that's going to be providing these services in violation of their religious beliefs. >> luke goodrich is general counsel for the becket fund, funding the three lawsuits that have happened already and any others if they come about. thank you very much. we appreciate you joining us here on cnn. you can better believe they're going to be talking about this in washington at cpac. the republicans who are running for president already seizing on it. we're waiting to hear from mitt romney. he's going to address that crowd shortly, 12:55 eastern. we'll have live coverage p. later on this evening, newt gingrich. don't go anymore. ♪ [ male announcer ] why do we grow quaker oats? 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