HELENA -- Rep. Christine Kaufmann, D-Helena, called on lawmakers Wednesday to require health insurance companies that offer prescription drug coverage to cover prescription contraceptives for women.

House Bill 526 would ensure women equality under the law, Kaufmann said. Churches opposed to contraception would be exempt from the mandate.

"We expect our insurance coverage to be fair," Kaufmann told the House Business and Labor Committee. "We expect our health insurance to cover our basic health care needs. This is a basic health care need of women in their childbearing years."

While 99 percent of people nationwide who have employer-sponsored health insurance are given prescription drug coverage, 64 percent of those prescription drug plans deny contraception coverage, said Rep. Gail Gutsche, D-Missoula, who is supporting the bill.

Opponents said the mandate would increase the cost of health insurance and force businesses to pay for a product they may object to. Opponents also said the religious exemption is too restrictive and would force religious organizations, such as Catholic hospitals, to offer contraceptive coverage to their employees despite moral objections.

"This legislation displays extreme religious intolerance," said Lani Candelora, lobbyist for the Montana Catholic Conference. She called Kaufmann's bill a "moral assault on the Catholic Church."

Tanya Ask of Blue Cross Blue Shield opposed the bill for reasons of cost. She said contraceptive coverage would cost every insured person an extra $1.30 a month. It costs between $20 and $40 a month for contraception coverage, she added.

But the cost of prenatal care and baby delivery runs between $4,000 and $7,000, Kaufmann countered. And while some insurance companies deny birth control coverage, they will pay thousands for deliveries, Caesarean sections, complicated pregnancies and even abortions, she added.

"The only thing they're not paying for is to prevent all these other, costly options," Kaufmann said.

Denying women contraceptive coverage while paying for other drugs is gender discrimination, said Beth Brenneman of the Montana chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and a federal court in Washington, D. C., have ruled the same, she said.

Opponents said that forcing health insurance companies to pay for contraception infringes on their religious beliefs. Candelora, who owns a start-up company with her husband in Helena, said they wouldn't offer health insurance to their future employees if the state mandated that they offer contraception coverage.

"As business owners we don't want to pay for things we strongly object to," Candelora said.

The committee took no action on the bill Wednesday.