Many of these lawsuits, which the federal government says have been filed almost weekly, are from religious institutions, such as Roman Catholics, evangelicals and Mennonites, who insist the provision forces them to violate core principles of their faith.

The current law makes companies fully cover all “contraceptive methods and sterilization procedures,” that have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, including “morning-after pills.”

But considering how the Supreme Court found this health care law to be constitutional just last year, it seems unreasonable so many people still are up in arms about this provision.

Although these attacks seem to exemplify the extreme views of institutions dead set on believing their rights are at risk, when you consider the issue of covering birth control costs, it becomes strikingly clear this, in no way, should be seen as a religious issue.

It should be considered a basic health issue.

Aside from pregnancy prevention, birth control has numerous other health benefits for women. The National Survey of Family Growth has reported 14 percent of women who use birth control pills do so for a purpose other than contraception. This includes regulating periods and reducing cramps.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention declared contraception, such as birth control, one of the 10 greatest public health achievements of the 20th century.

And when you couple this support with the fact that, between 2006-08, 99 percent of women who ever had sexual intercourse used at least one method of birth control, it makes you curious if it’s even women who are against birth control coverage — especially when pills to treat erectile dysfunction, such as Viagra, already are covered by insurance.

From its inception, the Health and Human Services Department has offered an exemption for “religious employers” who wanted to be exempt from the birth control provision to avoid hindering any devout purposes.

Although this measure was meant to avoid jeopardizing any business, the topic of contraception is nothing new to many religious institutions, including the Roman Catholic Church.

In 2010, Pope Benedict XVI ended a long-standing church doctrine against artificial birth control, when he condoned the use of condoms because of the risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases.

Instead of fighting to deter the availability of fully-covered birth control to their employees, employers, religious or not, should take a moment to step back and consider what they’re fighting against.

When almost half of the pregnancies in the United States are unintended, the birth control provision found in the Affordable Care Act should not be observed as an attack on religion, but as an understandable measure for improving basic public health.