President Barack Obama on Friday abandoned his stand that religious organizations must pay for free birth control for workers, scrambling to end a furor raging from the Catholic Church to Congress to his re-election foes. He demanded that insurance companies step in to provide the coverage instead.

Pres. Obama’s compromise means ultimately that women would still get birth control without having to pay for it, no matter where they work. The president insisted he had stuck by that driving principle even in switching his approach, and the White House vehemently rejected any characterization that Pres. Obama had retreated under pressure.

Yet there was no doubt that Pres. Obama had found himself in an untenable position. He needed to walk back fast and find another route to his goal.