Arizona bill on birth control coverage off agenda

PHOENIX - A bill to give Arizona employers new leeway on providing health plan coverage for birth control drugs has hit a bump in the state Senate.

Under the bill, employers with religious or moral objections could decline to provide employees with coverage for birth control drugs used to avoid pregnancy. Coverage to use the drugs for other purposes still would be required.

Senate President Steve Pierce pulled the bill from Monday's agenda for the Rules Committee. The bill needs to clear that committee to reach the full Senate.

Spokesman Mike Philipsen says Pierce acted because of public comments against the bill and because Gov. Jan Brewer has voiced reservations. Philipsen says Pierce plans to speak with the bill's sponsor and that the bill isn't necessarily dead.