Joan Walsh: Catholic institutions suing have 'the idea of religious freedom backwards'

Salon editor at large Joan Walsh said the Catholic institutions who are suing the federal government over the birth control mandate have "the idea of religious freedom backwards," in a Wednesday panel on "Now with Alex Wagner."

ALEX WAGNER: Catholic institutions including the University of Notre Dame are suing the Obama administration over its contraception mandate. Joan, this thing is not going away any time soon. Cardinal Dolan is involved in this; 40, I think, 40 different Catholic institutions involved in this lawsuit.

JOAN WALSH: But major Catholic institutions are perfectly happy with the administration reached earlier this year, Alex. They are fighting a losing battle. And they’ve got the idea of religious freedom backwards, frankly. They are imposing on the rest of the country’s religious freedom with this opposition to this mandate. People want this; Catholic people want this, as we’ve learned—98 percent of Catholic women at some point in their lifetime use contraception. So, this is so outrageous, and such an overreach by Cardinal Dolan.

Catholic University, the Archdiocese of Washington, and Notre Dame filed suit Monday.