Tangled at the intersection of American politics and faith are women, contraceptives and the First Amendment. It is not the first time that constitutional guarantees seem to conflict, and it won’t be the last if history is any guide.

President Barack Obama tried to calm the fears of Catholic bishops and the charities and universities that answer to them by promising that no religious group or faith-based institution would have to pay for the Pill or other contraceptive services because the rules in the new health law would be tailored to require insurance companies to provide contraceptives for free to any woman who wants them. For insurers, it’s a cost-savings in the long run, as it’s much more expensive to monitor a pregnancy and deliver a baby.

The problem with Mr. Obama’s promise is that it doesn’t take into account that many private employers self-insure, meaning they budget a set amount based on their workers’ health histories to manage the costs themselves and skip the middle man, insurance companies. The Obama administration has to come up with another way, then, to balance the constitutional right of faith-based groups and those of women who for decades have had access to contraceptives through various insurance companies.

Another potential way around the federal contraceptives mandate would be for employers to pay a $2,000 fine per worker per year, which is what Jim Towey, president of Ave Maria University in Naples, announced that his Catholic university plans to do. It has filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking injunctive relief from the new rules. The irony of paying the federal fine once the law kicks in (it’s still the subject of a lawsuit involving almost two dozen states) is that it would be a huge savings for the university, as a family plan for an employee through an insurer can run $2,000 a month today.

Let’s remember too that the Pill is more than a contraceptive — it is used to treat a host of maladies and has other previously unforeseen benefits, from treating acne to reducing the risk of colorectal cancer.

Heading into this political collision, no one should forget that women of all faiths work for many faith-based employers at hospitals, universities and charities that do not necessarily share the women’s beliefs. Women have individual rights of privacy and religious freedom, too, and that they must be protected. Most Protestants and Jews, who have no objection to contraceptive services — indeed, that battle was fought and settled in the 1960s — should have access, along with all women, Catholics included, because the government cannot favor one religion over another.

It’s a delicate balance, one that the Supreme Court should decide based on a half-century of legal precedent. The rights and health of women must not be lost in this fight.