fixed in no time. >> hide the truth. >> he told me that there was nothing they could do, the ship is sinking. >> while the captain saveds himself his passengers fight for their lives. [screaming] bill: some drama, huh? 7:00 eastern sunday on natgeo. "national geographic" channel. martha: i'm not going on a cruise. nor row viruses, sinking cruise ships. i like the land. have a great weekend. see you next week everybody. jenna: there is plenty happening on land. controversy embroiling the obama administration and really much the country. an hour from now the president is expected to announce a plan that we believe will end the growing dispute. the details of that plan we do not have at this time. we're glad you're with us, everybody. i'm jenna lee. jon: he certainly hopes it will end the dispute. i'm john jon scott and

"happening now" the white house is rethinking its stance after a major backlash because after ruling that religious institution must supply employee insurance that includes birth control. just yesterday on a cincinnati radio show vice president joe biden suggested something could be worked out. >> i'm determined to see that this gets worked out and i believe we can work it out but the frustration, cardinal designee dolan's frustration is real. jenna: the vice president talked about him, cardinal designate, timothy dolan and york archbishop feels betrayed after meeting with the president on this very issue late last year aft whole lot to this story. wendell goler live at the white house. wendell, what do we expect to hear from the president? >> reporter: we expect to hear according to aides what the president will characterize as an accommodation with catholic

hospitals and universities that the affordable care act requirement that all employers provide contraception for their workers but not a compromise on the goal that making sure contraception is available for all women. uproar as you say pretty much drowned out everything else coming out of the white house for more than a week. the catholic church calling it attack on religious freedom and religious rights groups say nothing less will end gender discrimination. catholic hospitals and universities that see contraception as violation of their faith will not have to pay for it but their insurance companies will have to reach out directly to women employees and offer contraception free of charge. catholic officials say there is no way their organizations can contribute to contraception even though most catholic women use it. people are already saying this accommodation might not satisfy the bishops and catholic church leaders and that means the story here

might not be over unless the focus changes from one of religious freedom to one of women's rights. jenna. jenna: that is interesting debate. which direction it goes we don't know at this time. we have heard reports, wendell, we heard from the vice president on the radio show in ohio, we heard reports that the president was warned this particular rule would cause an uproar. tell us a little bit about some of those reports and what you're hearing. >> reporter: well both vice president biden and former chief of staff bill daley warned there would be controversy here though officials at the white house won't say if biden actually opposed the hhs rule. polls indicate most catholic women do support the rule and even if the church leadership does not. biden told an ohio radio station yesterday he thought something could be worked out in the year before this actually goes into effect. you know, there's been second-guessing of the white house decision on here but it wasn't an obvious choice politically. connecticut congresswoman

rosa delauro who is catholic has an op-ed in today's "washington post" calling the rule, the morally right path. and the group, catholics for choice took out this full-page ad in the "washington post" today saying 98% of the catholics are in favor of birth control. the ad reads, thinking about the catholic vote? do the math. jenna? jenna: interesting to see that ad, wendy. thank you so much holding that up for us. we'll be back to wendell at the white house news warrants. we'll tell you after the president speaks, around 12:15 we hear. we'll do the first interview with health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius. we'll talk about the i am mentation of the health care law and what we expect down the road. certainly a big story today. jon: it will be a fascinating conversation for sure. contraception coverage controversy is spilling over to the presidential race now and signaling social issues could play a big role in the

november election even in the fairs of americans concerns about high unemployment, troubled housing market and crushing national debt. minutes ago rick santorum seized the opportunity to highlight faith-based and social issues at the conservative political action conference. >> we've seen the president of the united states not only tell you what insurance coverage that you will have, how much you're going to pay, how much you will be fined if you don't but he is now telling the catholic church that they are forced to pay for things that are against their basic tenets and teachings, against their first amendment right. jon: fox news contributor joe trippi is the former howard dean campaign manager and joins us now. no president likes to back off from a policy issue like this but the white house has been forced to really eat crow on this one, haven't they? >> i think they are doing what they should have done in the first place. found the accommodation before they rolled this out but, you know, i think this would have been one i would

have listened to vice president biden on. jon: yeah. a number of high-profile catholics in the administration including defense secretary leon panetta telling the president apparently or the president's advisors this would not go over real well. >> yeah they were. i'm not sure how it will play out politically. it is i think helping rick santorum. jon: yeah. >> these are the kind of issues that he has been pushing the entire time. all of sudden they're front and center in the head liens and in the coverage. that is only helping him right now get traction. jon: and there is no guarranty i have to think, that this accommodation will be acceptable. insurance companies, if my, limited business experience is correct, insurance companies pool all their money from all their contributors and make payments with them. so saying that the church doesn't necessarily have to pay for the, the birth control option, that the insurance companies have to, that doesn't seem like it's going to necessarily fly?

>> you know, i don't know. i mean i would say, you know, i think we've got to believe that vice president biden's been involved finding out whatever, getting to the crux of whatever the solution is going to be and i think he has a very good, he has always had a finger on the pulse what is happening in the catholic community. jon: my understanding a lawyer for the cardinal-designate he doesn't agree with even the accommodation in part because as he understands it, and as we understand it, it wouldn't necessarily apply to a small business owner who might be a practicing catholic, he doesn't get an exemption. >> we'll have to see. i don't know what it is. we'll have to wait and see what the president says but i find it, look, i think this is going to have political consequences but i think those consequences are mainly going to play out right now at least on the primary side. jon: you don't think this will have lasting impact all the way to november? >> no. the one group i would be concerned about the president is latinos. a lot of them are very

devout catholics. very spiritual. very religious. at the same time pressured on immigration and economic issues towards the democratic party but on this issue they could start to become available to a rick santorum or some other, or whoever gets the republican nomination. >> we are a little over an hour away from hearing what accommodation the president intend to outline. joe trippi, thanks for helping us break it down. >> good to be with you. jon: thanks, joe. [explosions] jenna: the situation in syria going from bad to worse. this amateur video apparently out of homs where we're told civilians are being slaughtered in the streets by the assad government. in the city of aleppo, twin bombings killing at least 25 people. syrian state tv report more than 200 others are injured

what they're calling terrorist atax. we'll go to beirut, lebanon where fox world news contributor, dominic di-natale is live. >> reporter: they are showing graphic pictures live from the scene including decapitated corpse of one of the victims and many other victims with severedded limbs. it was quite intense. we can't show you pictures. the syrian government is i saying it is work what they call terrorists how he described opposition. the opposition hit back very quickly says they are not attacking civilians. and that this an attempt by the assad regime to discredit them. we haven't seen attacks like this in allepo they are strong supporters of president bashar al-assad. it is attempt to strike at the heart of his support base i will is really at the hands of the opposition. we can't independently verify who is behind this

and no perpetrators came forward to claim responsibility. continued violence carries on in homs. it appears that will be the case going forward. what will happen? the focus is really weakened and the international community. hillary clinton has been saying she is going to try to form a group of what is considered to be the friends of the democratic syria. also to support the opposition. how exactly that will be financed and some people calling for american support of this which will only make conditions worse. it will allow more intense fight to go on between the opposition and of course government troops. on top of that the arab league is very soon going to be meeting over the weekend. it will discuss whether it can cooperate with the u.n. in some shape or form to try to end the violence as well as also intervene if it can in any way. they are going to try to recognize perhaps the opposition, syrian national council, a other groups and opposition groups to see if they can decide whether it should be the legitimate representative body of syria but in the meantime no

effective measures from the international community or within syria to bring about the end of the kind of killings we've seen today. back to you, jeanne in. jenna: interesting point to end on this, dominic. thank you so much. dominic di-natale from beirut. jon: from cruise ships to college campuses in the northeast the string of norovirus outbreaks continues to grow. colleges are now on alert. so mom and dad send the remedies. jenna: what is the remedy, that is the bigger question? and the nuclear regulatory commission approving the first reactor since three-mile island, that nuclear disaster. we'll tell you where the reactors will be built. jon: jenna, take a look at this guy. a romantic robot inspiring women in japan ahead of valentine's day. jenna: wow!. jon: can an android fall in love? coming up. wake up!

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jenna: some new video just crossing our international desk coming in from greece where peaceful protests quickly turned violent in the capital city of athens. thousands take to the streets as unions launch a two-day strike and government ministers resign over planned job cuts and slashed wages. more austerity measures there. you see on your screen demonstrators hurling rocks at police who respond by using tear gas. eurozone put as hold on greece's bailout they were supposed to get because they need to put in more austerity measures according to reports. today a fourth greek minister resigned because of eu demand for more of these cuts. jon: fox news alert now. and the nuclear regulatory commission in this country aproves the first new nuclear project in more than three decades. two $14 billion nuclear

reactors could begin operating in georgia as early as 2016. jamie colby following this one from our new york newsroom. tell us about it. >> reporter: good morning to you, john. approval is in line with the obama administration a support for new energy sources. president pledges $8.4 billion in loan guaranties for the project that is in addition to the 14 billion you mention to upgrade the existing plant there with the two new reactors. on the plus side there is this new expansion will support 35,000 workers. still the announcement raised concerns about the safety. >> nrc process has been thoughtful. it has been thorough and it is complete. it delivers a regime of safety oversight and accountability that our communities rightfully deserve. safety comes first. that is our simple, clear,

no excuses policy. >> reporter: that's what the company's president jon, addressing concerns that have come up. if you keep in mind the last approved construction of a nuclear plant came a year prior to that partial meltdown at three-mile island, raising the radiation fears so substantially that nuclear reactor production really came to a near-complete halt since then. then add to that the graphic images of japan's fukushima disaster which heightened the concern over potential reactor accidents. the nuclear regulatory committee's chairman who cast the only vote against this georgia expansion, even expressing his concern this week that we may fall short of all the safety regulations and implementation we need to create this cleaner energy in a fully-secure and safe environment. now to give you some perspective, jon, there are 104 nuclear power plants in the u.s. right now and they provide 20% of our nation's electricity. so the expansion could be important. whether the approval signals

a true resurgence of nuclear energy production or not, we don't know but at least it is the first valuable test we had whether the industry at this point can grow while keeping workers and residents near these facilities out of harm's way. the first time as you said, in 30 years, jon. jon: that technology improved a lot in 30 years. >> reporter: we hope so. stand by, we'll keep you posted. jon: please do. jamie colby, thank you. court. jenna: war with iran whose nuclear ambitions a the israel and west on edge. our next guest says there are four scenarios that could land cause war in iran. major storms sweeping through the south right now. where they're headed and your weekend forecast just ahead. you noticed! these clothes are too big, so i'm donating them. how'd you do it? eating right, whole grain.

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jon: the acquisitions boards are busy here at fox news channel. these are the satellite feeds we're bringing in from all over the country, all over the world. look at remote 270. that is florida congressman connie mack, one of the rising stars in the republican party. he is addressing the conservative political action conference going on right now in washington. take sort of a figurative walk to the other end of pennsylvania avenue. there is the white house. we're watching for that announcement about an hour from now. president obama expected to backtrack a little bit on this contraception issue that has so angered the catholic church and so many, frankly, range rank-and-file americans. on remote 291 we're watching a big storm hitting the south. rain over new orleans and places like that. it is expected to head north. we'll see snow in the northeast this weekend. we'll keep you updated from the fox weather center.

jenna? jenna: thanks, jon. a "time" magazine article grabbing our attention. it is called the four ways the u.s. could end up in war with iran before the election. we have the washington correspondent for "time" magazine and author of that article. nice to have you with us. we'll work through the four points one by one. the first point, iran wants war. what you touch on is some of the social unrest happening inside that country. tell us a little bit about that. >> well, i mean right now the sanctions are actually working better than we have ever seen them. they have got hyperinflation in the country. there is an election coming up march 2nd where there is lot of unrest and unpopularity with the leaders. if they did provoke a war sort of calculation they might get bombed a few weeks. might set their nuclear program back a few months but it would promote huge international backlash against israel and possibly the united states. they would unify their people ahead of election outrage against the bombing.

there are political calculations in iran saying maybe it is worth going to war. jenna: you get social unrest in the street but coalesce that unrest in one direction at least for the time-being which would be an interesting strategy. you say iran potentially under estimates the president. why do you say that? >> well, over the years the united states has drawn lots of red lines with both iran and north korea, don't do this. this sort of step towards getting a nuclear bomb, don't do this, don't do that. each time they crossed so-called red lines we really haven't reacted very much. we never really bombed them. never gone to war with them, it is unclear is how seriously they're taking obama's rhetoric on this. whether or not obama is basically said i will not allow you to get a bomb under my watch. certainly with all the republican candidates ahead of the u.s. elections there is just no way obama could allow iran to get this bomb. now iran might think a obama might be distracted by the global economy and by the election itself and might

not notice they're making all steps getting a bomb and might not care they're crossing a red line. that might be a miscalculation. in this case it would matter and he would be forced to act. jenna: interesting. a red line that is red not yellow. a different color there. you mentioned third reason could be accidental where you could have something happen in the strait of hormuz that maybe wasn't planned whether glean ships or some of the lower level military out there the in straits that represent iran. that was something you brought up. your last point though was interesting. this one was israel goes it alone. you say this has something to do as well with our presidential election year. tell us a little bit about that. >> well look, there is lot of difference between israel's calculations on iran and america's calculations. they're very much closer to iran. if iran get as bomb it is considered an imminent threat. iran will not launch a nuclear bomb at the united states. it is too far away. they're much more nervous than the u.s. is. their calculation having to

do with our presidential election. if they go the alone obama couldn't show a lot of space between them. he would have to sort of unwittingly support them. but there is not a lot he could do to punish them this year or not a lot of congress could do to punish them. maybe perhaps better for them to do it this year versus next year where there might be new congress and new president and a lot harder for them politically to bomb iran. jenna: timing is everything as the cliche goes. really quick final point here, despite ex-sporging -- exploring the four different options based on your research most likely action is this year is nothing at all? >> seems politically, economically, it was given the oil prices and you know, all the different calculations there really isn't likely something that will happen. there isn't going to likely be a war at least before the elections just because it would cost too much on all sides. but that said, you never know. there are some factors here and so many different pieces at play. jenna: you point out very

nicely in the police. four ways the u.s. could end up at war with iran before the election. jay, thanks for coming in and talking about your work. >> thanks, jenna, the contraception controversy rallying leaders of the roman catholic church. one paper describes the edict at the white house as the catholic church's quote, pearl harbor. but did the church's organized opposition turn the tide? president obama expected to announce a plan to end the growing dispute just minutes from now. will there be political consequence for the president in november over this battle? we'll take a closer look. exploring the red planet runs into a red light. nasa about to propose big cuts for missions to mars and other planets. a lot of people not happy about that. new reaction to the fallout. ♪

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try lifelock's service risk-free for 60 days. lifelock is the only identity theft protection company that now monitors bank accounts for takeover fraud. no one provides more comprehensive identity theft protection than lifelock. if you're not convinced within 60 days, simply notify lifelock and you won't pay. and to keep your documents out of the wrong hands, we'll even add this personal shredder-- a $29 value-- absolutely free with your enrollment. don't wait another minute. call the number on your screen now, promo code: alerts. lifelock service guarantee cannot be offered to residents of new york. jon: fox news alert. about 45 minutes from now, we expect president obama to take to the microphones to make a statement from the white house on the contraception controversy. fox news has learned the white house plans a quote, accommodation, that it hopes will end the dispute. the showdown comes over a rule that would force

religious affiliated institutions like catholic hospital, service agencies and colleges to provide employee health insurance that includes birth control. paul gigot, is editorial page editor of "the wall street journal" and joins us now. we don't know exactly what the white house is expected to announce. >> right. jon: they call it accommodation. the question is, will it work? >> well we don't know that. we'll wait for the details but we do know we talked to some of the people who are critics and they said the white house isn't negotiating with us. jon: this hasn't been worked out in advance? >> they're negotiating with them to come up with a accommodation they're calling it and in hope that it works the whether it does will hinge on the details. jon: you've gotten some indications what might be in this? >> they're talking about something called the hawaii exception because it was used in hawaii where the religious institutions would not have to provide themselves the instudents -- insurance for sterilization

and contraception but their insurers would. so if notre dame for example, notre dame would not have to provide notre dame employees with the contraception insurance but whoever insurance notre dame would. the problem with this in part, some of these institution are self-insured so they're their own insurer. that is one of the reasons earlier the white house looked at this hawaii exception and rejected it as unworkable. if they're now going to resurrect it will be interesting to see why they think it is now workable when it wasn't before. jon: even insurance companies are expected to pay for this. insurance companies get some of their money from their members and their clients. so some of that roman catholic or other church money is still going into the insurance company to pay these for these programs. >> this looks to me like a finesse to avoid the ultimate problem which is really the mandate. it is basically forcing, dictating that you must provide this service to

people. once you do that, that creates the problem. jon: you don't think this is going to, well, we'll see what the details are but you don't think this will silence the criticism? >> i'm in missouri state of mind, show me. but from everything i've heard if you're negotiating with yourself and not asking critics if it is all right in advance it will be some question whether those critics are going to agree. jon: a story in the "new york times" says the roman catholic cardinals and bishops and so forth have been aware for the last seven months, this kind of thing, not the accommodation but the president's, administration's edict was coming and it was finally their pearl harbor, equivalent of the thing that really pushed them over the edge. >> this was lobbied furiously on both sides. planned parenthood and many democratic liberals urging no exception. the bishops behind the scenes saying we really do want this exception. so they knew that there was going to be a decision. i think they were surprised at how narrow the exception

that was provided was. for them the catholic bishops have a sense, you know, that the space for religion in american society, which is increasingly secular is narrowing. they worry government is increasingly infringing on the free exercise of religion and so i think this for them is, pearl harbor is not too strong a word. jon: it has become a real political issue. we will see what the president says as i said, 45 minutes from now. he will have a tightrope to walk, isn't he? >> he sure is. jon: paul, thank you. you can catch more of paul when he hosts the "journal editorial report". tune in tomorrow 2:00 p.m. eastern time. jenna: in other news the planet mars seems farther away than ever. scientists say nasa will cut funding for missions to mars and other planets because of major budget cuts from the white house. the nasa former science chief is speaking out over this decision. national correspondent phil keating is live for us from miami. phil, the former chief uses

words like irrational, unjustified. he has some strong feels about this. >> reporter: absolutely. edward wiler is certainly not alone here. there is a lot of backlash as early word has been leaking out about the $18 billion roughly requests unveiled by nasa this monday. in it the early word here is that hundreds of millions of dollars are going to be cut from planetary exploration and that means mars. only the united states of course has been onto the martian planet surface with the mars rover which still sits there. so for many this is prestige issue for the united states. these cuts likely mean nasa backing out of commitments already in place with europeans for mars missions in 2016 and 2018. even more in doubt is the long range mars plan and very expensive plan to use three spacecraft to blast off from earth, get to mars, collect martian rocks and samples and blast off and return to earth which has never been done before.

jenna: phil, as we take a look at some of this animation that we're looking at, we have some realities in this country of the budget and where our money is going to be spent. we can't do everything. there's a real, there's a real challenge to figuring out are web where the priority is? >> absolutely. without a doubt there will be winners and losers here. the winners are the astro physics community. wildly popular hubble space telescope. it has been in space very successful. well it is set to be replaced by a 100 times more powerful space telescope called the james webb space telescope. that is set to launch in 2018 but that will let us see not only further back in time but will cost much more money. originally set for $3.5 billion. it is now $5 billion more expensive. and as the director of the spaceport research and technology institute on florida's space coast tells me it is a zero-sum game.

keeping webb means other programs must die. at least when it is over we'll have one spectacular piece of equipment to better understand our universe. but as former nasa senate astronaut tome jones told me this morning, another long-term issue, once you cut certain programs you will have most likely a brain drain drain. if you want to revisit the programs and get back into the lead getting to mars and perhaps even other planets, as president obama says he wants humans to do, it's going to be much more challenging. jenna: we'll continue to watch this story, phil. thank you so much. jon: we have some brand new fox polls out. how republican candidates rick santorum and mitt romney would fare if the presidential election were held today. also the deadly violence continues to rage in syria. hundreds killed in the past week alone. the situation looks maybe even worse than the uprising in libya. so why isn't the u.s. taking action to stop the bloodshed in syria like we did with

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cymbalta can help. go to cymbalta.com to learn about a free trial offer. jenna: new next hour a bombshell report claiming terrorists are killing iranians nuclear scientists and they're financed, trained and armed by israel. is that the case? we'll dig a little deeper into that. a former dea agent exposes how many justice department officials knew about the botched gun-running operation "fast and furious". we'll go live to the mexican border for that. a highly psychotic man fixated on madonna is on the loose after escaping from a mental hospital. the latest on that manhunt coming up. jon: the violence in syria seems to be escalating every day. take a look at the latest amateur video from the city of homs. activists saying hundreds have been killed in these attacks by assad forces over just the last week. the chaos is now spreading to the city of aleppo where

twin bombings killed at least 25 people leaving many more injured. the deteriorating situation drawing many comparisons to the violent uprisings that led to the killing of long-time libyan leader muammar qaddafi. check out these facts from our fox news brain room. in libya, an estimated 1,000 people were killed in the violence before a nato no-fly zone went into effect 32 days after major protests began there. in syria the u.n. says more than 5400 people have died in the brutal government crackdown and it has been 11 months since the uprising began with no, no fly zone or other international intervention. for libya the u.n. quickly approved the resolution for a no-fly zone. in syria the u.n. has been unable to adopt any resolution. china and russia have been holding out. no coincidence that those nation haves close ties to iran which is syria's biggest ally. john bolton is the former u.s. ambassador to the u.n.. he is also a fox news

contributor. michael singh is the former senior direct tour -- director of middle eastern affairs of the national security council. gentlemen, thanks for being with us. ambassador bolton, we interhaven't in libya. we haven't in syria. why not? >> i think the central reason why not is the presence of iran assisting the dictatorship stay in power. just to be clear my view is we should overthrow the assad government and overthrow the reg people in tehran but i don't think that president obama has either the intention or frankly the will to get engaged in syria because i don't think he wants to take iran on. i doubt he could carry through on it. so i think the prospect here the civil war is likely to continue in this very bloody and brutal fashion for some time to come. jon: michael, it seems like because the chinese and the

russians have issued those vetoes in the security council are we left absolutely powerless? we just have to watch the syrians slaughter their own people? >> well, jon, you know it is undoubtedly the case as ambassador bolton said syria is far more important to our strategic interests than libya was but there are many things that make it harder to intervene in syria. i think there is commonalty between the libya and syria cases which is it is important to remember that the u.s. was reluctant to intervene in libya. only when all the stars aligned, arabs were calling for it, libyans themselves calling for it that the russians and chinese dropped their objections finally the united states and president obama got on board even then in a minor way. syria would require u.s. leadership in a difficult situation and we haven't seen that at this point. jon: leadership is called for in difficult times as well as easy times. seems like you're both saying, mr. ambassador, it was easy to go into libya.

it would be difficult to go into syria? >> well, that's true but let's also look what's happened in libya since the intervention. it is one thing to remove qaddafi and i certainly supported that. it is another to leave a stable, functioning representative government afterward and we have not done that. so i think the outcome in libya is only partially successful. it is very easy to get into one of these situations. very hard to see it through and in the case of syria, because of the maligned presence of iran even more difficult. jon: michael, i want to talk for a moment about news coverage. we had news crews in libya right up until the bombs started falling. let me play a short clip of that. [explosions]. [gunfire] [inaudible] >> actually getting eyes on it here. jon: steve harrigan, leland

vittert, david lee miller doing great work showing conditions inside the country. the syrians seemed to have learned from that. they don't let anybody in that country, in their own country. they don't let the world press see the kinds of atrocitis. i'm just curious, seems like they're almost getting rewarded for their bad behavior? michael. >> this is indeed one of the differences here. certainly assad learned lessons from the fall of qaddafi and the fall of mubarak. the libyan opposition was very well-organized and well-disciplined and they had the base of operations in benghazi where journalists could go and u.s. officials could go to coordinate with them. the syrian opposition don't have those benefits. all we're seeing is amateur video coming out of the country. we have to not allow to that deeply affect the situation. we have to see our interests in syria which are quite deep and act on that basis. jon: if we have interests in syria, mr. ambassador what do we do now?

we stand by and allow the slaughter to continue? >> i think if we had an administration was prepared as former secretary of state alexander hague, used to say, go to the source, this is an important point of dispute with iran and to help control the spread of iran's influence over the middle east. you know, in many respects syria is a proxy battle between iran on the one side and sunni-arabs led by saudi arabia on the other. and i think a defeat in syria could have enormous consequences for the regime in iran but i say again, i just don't think the obama administration, to be blunt, has the backbone to carry this through successfully and i would hate to see america get involved in a significant way and then find ourselves in retreat. jon: ambassador john bolton and michael singh, thank you. >> thank you. >> thanks. jenna: more on that big story as we continue to watch. it's been a year now since the uprising. a long time.

we'll see if we go another year with the same situation. meantime new developments in the child sex abuse case against jerry sandusky, the former penn state football coach. he is taking the stand and speaking to reporters after the hearing. we'll tell you what that is all about. by land and by sea, a nasty stomach virus breaking out at schools and cruise ships. what is going on here? dr. siegel is here with tips to protect yourself. maybe a little soap and water. hand wash. anti-bacterial spray. dr. siegel next. as you can see, i'm in a tricky situation here.

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jon: former penn state coach jerry sandusky just spoke with reporters a couple minutes ago. a judge set a tentative

trial date. may 14th, to hear the jerry sandusky child sex abuse case. here is little bit what sandusky had to say after today's hearing. >> now all of a sudden, okay, because of allegations and perceptions that have tried to have been created of me, now i can't take our dog on my deck and throw out biscuits to him. now all of a sudden these people turn on me when they have been in my home. jon: well more on this developing story as we get it. may 14th, the trial for jerry sandusky. jenna? jenna: in health news the norovirus looks like we're getting a lot of outbreaks in general. the sickness slamming two new jersey colleges. ryder university say dozens are claimed to a stomach illness. they believe it is tied to a

possible outbreak at nearby princeton university. the crown princess cruise ship returning to florida two days earlier after an outbreak at sea. it is one of three cruise ships where hundreds got sicks. the cruise line said all clean ships had to be cleaned and sanitized. apparently didn't work one time around. we told you last week an entire high school in san francisco after hundreds of students became ill. what is this? is this the flu of 2012? dr. marc siegel member of fox news medical a-team. i say this, doc, normally we're talking about flu outbreak. this virus seems to be more prevalent than the average flu. >> this is called stomach flu. we see 20 million cases every year of norovirus. 20 million cases. it is number one cause in the united states. it is all over the place. i'll tell you. takes only day or two after you get it to get sick but you can pass it around for week or two. if you don't isolate yourself and keep preparing

food and touch people, they get sick. you think you're better. go back to work. everyone else gets sick. jenna: you are still a carrier. one report suggested that anti-bacterial hand sanitizer, the jell you carry in your purse or pocket really doesn't work against that. is that true? does it help with something like this? >> the center for disease control says it does work. doesn't work quite as well as some other viruses. old-fashioned hand washing still the best. isolating yourself. usually comes in with food handling. so some food gets contaminated. somebody gets sick. a target case. they start spreading it around a school or ship. ships are notorious because a lot of food is sitting there in freezers and take it out and somebody gets sick. jenna: is there any coincidence this is happening during the winter? that we're seeing outbreak versus middle of summer with we don't normally worry about the flu as much? >> that is great question. we're more in close quarters makes it easier to spread in winter. spread by air.

all viruses spread by air spread more easily in winter. we're probably not sanitizing. they had to do the ship twice. you have to keep well-hydrated. i say that a million times. i'm worried about elderly and chronically ill. you will have a lot of diarrhea, vomiting. not a fever. a lot of diarrhea. a lot of abdominal pain. a lot of nausea. you have to stay hydrated. some evidence pepto bismol will help. there is no treatment. jenna: we will walk around with anti-bacterial stuff in our pocket and good deal? >> watch what you eat. jenna: dr. siegel, thanks a lot. we appreciate it. jon? jon: sounds like life in a bubble would be better. hey, it is the story of the day. our news watch panel covers media coverage over the outcry of contraception coverage. we're waiting for the president to speak out on this controversy. he will be backtracking a bit we understand. that takes place just minutes from now.

jon: it's a battle in the republican race kicking off the second hour of "happening now." i'm jon scott. jenna: i'm jenna lee. up for grabs in the whole conference is who wins the title of true conservative. you don't get a medal for that. it's something that will be discussed. there is ann coulter right there. she is vying for that. it's all at cpac in the nation's capitol. they try to show the conservative gathering how they share the same values. we have our chief work ton correspondent james roads even whrosen who is there, covering all the events. >> reporter: as rick santorum took the cpac page at the marriott with his family this morning he cou feel the wind at his back, most specifically

and recently in the form of today's just published fox news poll of republican primary voters nationwide which show he has doubled his support in just 48 hours and stands essentially tied with delegate frontrunner mitt romney. to the conservative faithful here santorum said, i know you and you know me. he said not to compromise on their believes. he is fresh off history-state sweep. he never mentioned mitt romney by name in his 20-minute speech. he left no doubt what candidate he thinks embodies that fatal compromise. >> we need something that is willing to go out on the big issues of the day and draw a contrast. we are not going to win this election, ladies and gentlemen because the republican candidate has the most money to beat up their opponent and win the election. [applause] >> reporter: for his part governor romney warmed up for his cpac appearance this coverage. in fact later this hour with a

morning event at the northern virginia tech tphol ge virginia tech tphol ge virginia keck toll gee council. he had a good word put in for him by the current governor of virginia bob mcdonald but whose pitch for romney was only politely received. >> he's the guy, whether it's been as governor of massachusetts, as head of a large private sector company, and turning around the olympics he's the consistent conservative. he's been able to get things accomplished via cutting $3 billion in deficit in massachusetts, turning the olympics around, creating over a hundred thousand jobs for people. that's to me the kind of can-do responsible conservative leadership that we need for the united states of america. >> reporter: i mentioned the fox news polls of republican primary

voters nationwide that were released at 10:00am eastern time this morning. they show rick santorum gaining about 14 points tied 30-30% with mitt romney. they show a 16-point slide for former house speaker newt gingrich. he'll be speaking here this afternoon. it seems clear from this poll that many people have been saying that rick santorum ascending means a loss for newt gingrich. jenna: james rosen, thank you very much. jon: fox news alert, israel saying it has successfully tested a missile defense system developed in partnership with the united states. the two nations joining to build what is called the arrow. it's meant to intercept missiles and protect israel from any attack by iran. leland vittert is live in jerusalem with an update for us. >> reporter: jon, this was a test of the radar system that would track incoming missiles

here into israel. let me show you why it's so important. the test missile was fired from deep in the mediterranean, that would put it about a thousand miles to the west of israel. that i can a took where a thousand miles to the east of israel is, that's teheran and that's where the incoming ballistic missiles would come from. it's a star wars system that sends up one missile to hit another missile coming in. the radar that traction all that is incredibly crucial. so far the arrow system has intercrepted about 14 test missiles here. this new system has pinpoint accuracy as they figure out exactly when to launch the intercept tores. why is this so important? there's been a lot of talk about an israeli ey attack on the iranian nuclear facility. the only defense from iran would be to hit israel with missiles and hit the population centers and the new radar would really help to be able to track if there were a lot of missiles

launched at one one time they could overwhelm the old arrow missile system. i talked to a source very close to the defense community here, he said there is absolutely no coincidence in this latest test, this was meant to reassure the israeli public that they could intercept all of these iranian missiles if they were indeed fired. it also meant in terms of how much publicity has been done about the missile test to probably send a message to iran that you may want to think twice before you launch anything because we have something that can counter it. jon: absolutely amazing technology. leland vittert live in jerusalem. thank you. jenna: this just in, jerry sandusky take being the stand today. the former football coach at penn state is facing multiple charges of child sex-abuse. the judge considering several issues, including bail conditions and who exactly can sit on this jury. david lidavid lee miller is

live at the courthouse in pennsylvania. david. >> reporter: this was supposed to be a routine court hearing but there was very little routine about it. jerry sandusky entered the courthouse shortly before the hearing was scheduled to begin at 10:00. he had on his face a broad smile. he wanted to speak to reporters. court officials told him he was not be able to do so in the parking lot. he then went inside the courthouse and a short time later he briefly testified and then he did make a brief statement to the reporters. at issue today, one of the key points, bail. he is now under house arrest, he wears an ankle bracelet. he is being electronically monitored. neighbors have come forward as well as staff from a nearby school complaining they have seen sandusky on the deck of his home. they fear he poses a danger to nearby school children and sandusky addressed that issue before reporters saying he should have the right to be on the deck outside his home in order to spend time with his dog. listen. >> now, all of a sudden, okay. because of allegations and

perceptions that have tried to have been created of me, now i can't take our dog on my deck and throw out bisquits to him. >> reporter: sandusky is also asking for changes in his bail. he wants it changed so he can spend time with some of his 11 grandchildren. he wants the right to leave his home when necessary to accompany investigators working on his defense. and he would like some of his friends to have the right to come visit him in his home as he remains under house arrest. also one of the items discussed, the prosecutor here is calling for an outside jury, a jury from outside center county to hear this case. the defense maintains that is not necessary. they believe they say that jerry sandusky can get a fair trial with a hometown jury, full. very briefly today the judge asked jerry sandusky to take the stand and asked him if he understood the consequences of having a hometown jury listen to

his case, decide his fate, and then if he's convicted he understood the consequences that if there is an appeal he would not be able to raise this issue during that appeal. jerry sandusky said, he understood. the judge says he is going to decide these and some other matters, an very, very soon an expects this case to go to trial as soon as may 1 14th. jenna: what a trial it will be. thank you so much. jon: a series of attacks inside iran targeting that nation's nuclear scientists. a new report claims a group trained by israeli agents is involved. plus, a break in the case of a ten-year-old girl missing since 2009. why police now want to interview a couple of sisters seen talking to a person of interest on the night lindsey baum vanished. [ female announcer ] feeling that flu all over your body? immerse yourself in all over relief

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jenna: new information on a young girl missing now for more than two years. washington police identifying a brand-new person of interest in the disappearance of lindsey baum. harris faulkner has more on this. >> reporter: there are a couple of people they really want to talk with tpwhou. now. this is a winding story. ten-year-old lindsey baum went missing in june, two years ago now. what police are doing in washington state is looking at this video just released, and they have now picked up the gentleman that you see here. his name is tim hartman and he owns a jewelry store. they've been talking to him all along but what is new here is he had told police that he was nowhere in sight from where lindsey baum had disappeared back in june of 2009. we know from this video they were at the same convenience store that might in the same area of ma clea mccleary. there are two women also in this

video and police want to talk with them. they've been able to ascertain who the women are, and that they may have some information either about tim hartman or about what happened to young lindsey baum. there she is ten years old last seen around 9:15 on the night of june 26th in 2009. they have searched tim hartman's car, home and jewelry store, but we are just learning today about how he fits in after seeing him in that video. there is still a tip line out about this child, and the description there on the screen, what she was last wearing. and the tip line is for the mccleary police department. where is young lindsey? three people they want to talk with, one person of interest, that jewelry store owner, what does he know? hopefully we'll find out soon, back to you. jenna: we'll continue to watch it thank you. jon: new information is raising serious questions.

nbc news reporting that a recent spate of deadly attacks on iranian nuclear scientists being carried out by an iranian dissident group. they say the group is financed, trained and armed by israel's secret service. is it true? is it effective. author judith miller has been looking into it as well. she is a pulitzer prize investigative report and a fox news contributor. this group the mek, you know of them pretty well. >> yes, i know them, and they were for a longtime on the u.s. terrorist list, they remain on the terrorist list, though their supporters want them off the list because they are very proisraeli, and of course anti-iranian. jon: the old saying is the enemy of my enemy is my friend. >> yes, except in the middle east where everybody tends to be your potential enemy. jon: there have been pretty audacious assassinations carried out by black-clad motorcyclists

who pull up next to the car of a iranian scientist, put a magnetic bomb and board, and has taken out a number of these scientists. >> i actually asked a lot of experts on the nuclear program in iran, is this effective. we know that people say it's illegal, some people say it's immoral, but is it effective? and their answer by and large has been, yes, it's pretty effective. as a decapitation strategy you remove the top tier of the science and engineering establishment. some people do have qualms and question the effectiveness of it. by and large there ain't much debate. jon: it's not that much different from using a drone to target an al-qaida leader for insurance chance. >> exactly. jon: judy we have breaking news out of washington. i have to cut this short. >> as part of the healthcare reform law that i signed last

year all insurance plans are required to cover preventative care at no cost. that means free checkups, free mammograms, immunizations and other basic services. we fought for this because it saves lives, and it saves money for families, for businesses, for government, for everybody. that's because it's a lot cheaper to prevent an illness than to treat one. we also accepted a recommendation from the experts at the institute of medicine that when it comes to women preventative care should include coverage of contraceptive services, such as birth control. in addition to family planning doctors often prescribe contraception as a way to reduce the risk of ovarian and other cancers and treat a variety of different ailments. we know that the overall cost of healthcare is lower when women have access to contraceptive

services. nearly 99% of all women have relied on contraception at some point in their lives. 99%. and yet more than half of all woman between the ages of 18 and 34 have struggled to afford it. so for all these reasons we decided to follow the judgment of the nation's leading medical experts and make sure that free preventative care includes access to free contraceptive care. whether you're a teacher or a small business woman, or a nurse, or a janitor, no woman's health should depend on who she is, or where she works, or how much money she makes. every woman should be in control of the decisions that affect her own health. period. this basic principle is already the law in 28 states across the country. now, as we move to implement this rule, however, we've been

mindful that there is another principle at stake here and that is the principle of religious liberty, an inch alible right enshrined in our constitution. as a citizen and christian i cherish this right. my first job in chicago was working with catholic parishes in poor neighborhoods, and my salary was funded by a grant from an arm of the catholic church. and i saw that local churches often did more good for a community than a government program ever could. so i know how important the work that faith-based organizations do, and how much impact they can have in their communities. i also know that some religious institutions, particularly those affiliated with the catholic church have a religious objection to directly providing insurance that covers contraceptive services for their employees. that's why we originally exempted all churches from this requirement. an exemption, by the way that

eight states didn't already have. that's why from the very beginning of this process i spoke directly to various catholic officials, and i promised that before finalizing the rule as it applied to them we would spend the next year working with institutions like catholic hospitals and catholic universities to find an equitable solution that protects religious liberty and insures that every woman has access to the care that she needs. now, after the many genuine concerns that have been raised over the last few weeks, as well as, frankly, the more cynical desire on the part of some to make this into a political football it became clear that spending months hammering out a solution was not going to be an option, that we needed to move this faster. so last week i directed the department of health and human services to speed up the process that had already been envisioned. we weren't going to spend a year doing this. we were going to spend a week or

two doing this. today we've reached a decision on how to move forward. under the rule women will still have access to free preventative care, that includes contraceptive services, no matter where they work. that core principle remains, but if a woman's employer is a charity, or a hospital that has a religious objection to providing contraceptive services as part of their health plan, the insurance company, not the hospital, not the charity, will be required to reach out and offer the woman contraceptive carefree of charge, without co-pays and south hassles. the results will be that religious organizations won't have to pay for these services and no religious institution will have to provide these services directly, let me repeat, these employers will not have to pay for or provide

contraceptive services. but woman who work at these institutions will have access to free contraceptive services, just like other women, and they'll know longer have to pay hundreds of dollars a year that could go towards paying the rent, or buying groceries. i've been confident from the start that we could workout a sensible approach here, just as i promised. i understand some folks in washington may want to treat this as another political wedge issue. but it shouldn't be. i certainly never saw it that way. this is an issue where people of good will on both sides of the debate have been sorting through some very complicated questions to find a solution that works for everyone. with today's announcement we've done that. religious liberty will be protected, and a law that requires free preventative care will not discriminate against women. and we live in a pleuralistic

society where we will not agree on every single issue or share every belief. that doesn't mean we have to choose between individual liberty and basic fairness for all americans. we are unique among nations for having been founded upon both these principles, and our obligation as citizens is to carry them forward. i have complete faith that we can do that. thank you very much, everybody. jenna: that was the president and his announcement is as expected. remember starting off this week here is the debate about having the employer, having to offer contraception for free, and if an employer was part of a religious institution how that employer felt it violated standards that they follow. so instead of the employer having to pay for the contraceptions for free, it looks like the insurance companies will have to foot the

bill. that leads into a whole other host of different questions about how exactly this is going to be implemented. we are going to be speaking with health and human services secretary sebelius coming up in a moment to find out more details on how this actually works. in the meantime monica crowley is with us a radio talk show host and julie roginski, both are fox news contributors. we are going to talk about this subject, whether or not this is a woman's health issue or something bigger. we heard that debate this week. just hearing the compromise, though that has been called, this accommodation by the president, julie, does this look like this would be acceptable to all sides? does this solve the debate. >> i don't know if it's acceptable to the catholic church. their issue is contraception itself, not whether they have to provide it but the whole basis of whether they need to -- whether contraception is acceptable tow them as a

religious institution. there was a very good exemption of not forcing catholic churches to provide contraception. saying if you're jewish or ae atheist, and you work for a catholic hospital that accepts taxpayer fundings, my tax dollars don't discriminate where to go they ma should be able to provide healthcare for woman and their personal belief shouldn't trump the personal beliefs of women that might not subscribe to their believes. jenna: does it seem like again that there is something reached here that all sides could agree upon? is this a quote unquote solution? >> i'm not sure. it seems to me the president was really trying to split the baby here. what we're dealing with is a fundamental ideological question. obama care passed about a year and a half ago. they've had a year and a half to try to work through all of these

issues as it regards to obamacare. the fact that they came up with me tells me this is a purely ideological decision, it was from the beginning. the president wanted to stick to his guns on this and force religious institutions to do things that fly in the face of their basic church doctrines. what he is coming out with today is a political maneuver. i don't know enough about the details to tell you whether or not it will solve the problem. what it tells me is that this president is such a pure ideolog, in i this is where his instincts are. this is a question about government power and control. jenna: he says this is a fundamental right that american women should have access to without a cost as part of the healthcare law. julie does that seem, now that we see this debate take place on the national stage, does it appear that that is a decision that our federal government should making for citizens. >> if it is ideal logical to say

that women should have power to make healthcare decisions for themselves. jenna: just to be clear, i think this point gets a little bit muddled. it's not just access, it's for free that they should have access to this medicine for free. >> again, it is basic healthcare needs. there are people in the democratic party, i'm one of them, and i guess the president is two who thinks there are certain basic healthcare rights that are rights, not privileges. and people and women should have access to. domestic violence treatment is another thing he talked about. there are people on the republican side the conservative side that say that is not true, that is not the case. that is a fight with the republican party wants to pick with this president and i think they are on the wrong side of women and the electri the electorite at large. >> the issue here was the government was compelling these institutions, this was a

mandate, compulsion. this is not an individual catholic woman making her own decision with her doctor and praying on it to take contraception. this is the government coming in and mandating this. and i think again it gets to the question of government power and control. >> it's not accurate at all. nobody is forcing a woman to take a contraception. of all the catholics out there only 2% have never used contraception. if you're among the two% nobody is forcing you to do it. you should have access to it. jenna: the man a date fo mandate for the free care is something we'll be talking more about with secretary sebelius. we'll try to sort through it. thank you both. we had the breaking news. we'll continue to have this conversation, jon. jon: a lot more on the developing story, the president trying to walk back a decision that has angered so many catholics and proponents of individual rights, health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius makes her next

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jon: breaking news to bring you in the ongoing investigation of operation fas fast and furious. a former agent with personal knowledge is speaking out for the first time. he contradicts the justice department's version of events. william la jeunesse live at a border crossing in arizona. william. >> reporter: more than a thousand fast and furious

weapons cross into mexico at checkpoints just like this one. we are told that ice agents at this port ever entry in sassaby stopped at least two loads of guns that belonged to an atf operation. then there was a confrontation and ice was told to back off and not interview with future loads that were being smuggled to the cartels. it turns out multiple federal agencies questioned the reason and the risk of letting guns go south. >> a disaster that is going to happen. someone is going to get killed. unfortunately brian terry is that nightmare that came through. >> reporter: former tucson drug enforcement shaoef tony coleson says the atf wasn't the only federal agency with a hand in operation fast and furious. >> on two occasions that i know of, that weapons that atf were trying to walk into mexico, ice actually interceded and seized

the weapons. >> reporter: the dea also helped providing intelligence from a suspected ringleader. they shared the same wire room inside this building with the dea where they would monitor live conversations of their targets. this lasted for more than a year as the atf tried to identify two high level cartel associates, the money men behind fast and furious. well, according to documents both the dea and the f.b.i. knew who these men were but didn't bother to tell the atf. in fact their names were written on call sheets inside here, but the atf never saw them. the f.b.i. also admitted both men were confidential informants making them off limits and unindictable. so for a year the atf is looking for two guys who were already on the f.b.i. payroll. ice had no comment and said it was not aware of these tactics, even though one of their agents

belonged to the task force looking into fast and furious. jon: the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. william la jeunesse, thanks. jenna: this fox news alert. the president just out talking about this contraception mandate that would require religious groups to offer birth control for free to their workers. there is a little bit of a shift that the president just announced, it's not going to be the employers themselves, but the insurance companies that will provide that free access to those free services. we're joined by health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius, and secretary, nice to have you on such a busy day. >> nice to be with you. jenna: the president outlined why it's so important for the white house to stand behind this mandate. this week we've moved from having that free contraception paid for by employers to now by insurance companies. if this is so important then why isn't the government footing the bill for all of it? >> well, jenna, this is part of the affordable care act, and our

direction to develop a set of benefits for women for preventative services, knowing that it's more cost effective to prevent illness than to treat it. the institute of medicine scientist recommended a full pra*eupbg range of receivessess from domestic violence screening to contraception. this is so critical to women's health. 9% of american women use contraception at some point in their lives and yet way too many people struggle to pay for the. with an insurance plan this will do two things. women will have access to a full range of preventative services, without co-pays or deductibles, that is a core principle regardless of where thee works, or her spouses, or her children, they will of these core benefits. on the other hand we want to respect the religious freedom and have institutions and entities that have religious objections to contraception not

have to violate their principles. so we think this is a very workable solution where insurance companies will offer this benefit directly to employees. we know it saves money in the long run if it's part of an insurance plan. jenna: you mentioned the point of afford built, with healthcare being so important. let's talk a little bit about afford built. we know that nothing is ever really free. when we talk about things being free, if insurance companies have to offer birth control for free, then oftentimes they have to raise the price on other things to compensate for those losses. so that can often pass on some of those costs to consumers, and how concerned are you in this time in this economy that this is a risk that could pass on further burden to american families? >> well i think that is a very legitimate question, but what we know, the national business council on health has looked at this. our actuaries have looked at it and in this instance

contraception actually saves money in an insurance pool providing this coverage actually reduces the overall cost of the pool. so there really is in this instance a no-cost strategy, where employers do not have to pay for this coverage if they have religious objections, they don't have to offer the coverage if they have objections but women will have access to this incredibly important health benefit. if women had to buy it on their own it could be up to $600 a year if they are trying to pay for this separately out-of-pocket. jenna: doesn't this give quite a bit of power if you will for lack of a better word with the insurance companies and how they fulfill this mandate now? if you say to insurance companies you have to provide birth control pills county insurance say, all right we're going to offer one pill, one brand for me and that is all that the consumer gets. is that really a risk that we should consider here when it comes to choosing the type of care and treatment that you want? >> well the recommended benefit

according to the institute of medicine is the full range of contraception that the fda has approved. we will at the department of health and human services work closely with insurers to make sure that that is fulfilled and that women have access to this incredibly important used benefit. we know that women take prescription contraceptives as the most frequently taken drug from the age of about 14 to 44. it's often missing from insurance plans. they are paying hundreds of dollars out-of-pocket. this is a huge step forward for the health of american women and we want to pul fulfill that promise. jenna: can you guarantee the pre yums for healthcare will not go up because the insurance companies have to offer this for free for everyone. >> what we now have is oversight from the department of health and human services looking at insurance rates. and again, action oo accu wear

reese and the business council has found that it lowers the cost of ale pao. we will be watching this carefully making sure women have the benefits that they need to keep themselves healthy, to keep their families healthy, and that we respect the religious objections of a group of employers. jenna: there is a broader question here that has come to the surface with this debate as well, is the role of government. in the healthcare law the government has decided to offer this service for free. is the opposite also true, the government can offer a service for free but also decide that other services are limited or not available? >> actually, the government hasn't decided to offer this service for free. this is part of a package of preventative benefits that the law has said should be offered to customers with no co-pay and no deductibles to make sure that there aren't financial barriers to getting a mammogram,

or getting a colon cancer screening. getting your kids immunizedded or in this case getting contraception. what we know then looking at this specific benefit is that it actually offered in an insurance pool lowers the overall cost, doesn't increase them. in this case we're saying this is a kind of win-win situation where employers don't have to pay for coverage, don't have to defer coverage, don't have to offer coverage if they have objections. on the other hand we know if this benefit, contraception, which lowers costs insurers can offer it to their customers free of charge, reach out to the women, so the women get advantage of the mandated benefit, they have an opportunity to make their own decisions about whether or not to access contraception that isn't made by their employers. jenna: a final question for you. we appreciate the time. this is an unprecedented law that passed through congress, with unprecedented speed.

>> that's right. jenna: now we are at the point where we're eupl phr implementing the law and things are coming up exactly how we do this. were you surprised about the controversy that emerged? did this catch you off guard? as you look down the road of further implementation what do you see that could cause a challenge like this. >> again, viewers have to understand this that 28 states in the country, over half of the states in the country have a law that requires contraception as a mandatory part of an insurance plan. those laws, many of them have been in place since the early 90s. some some religious exemptions, some have no exemptions whatsoever. what we are trying to do is do a balance between religious freedom and the very important step forward for women's health services. lots of insurance plans right now don't offer the benefits that women need, and it's still legal until the affordable care

act is fully implemented to charge women a lot more for their coverage and force them to pay for the services they need out o out-of-pocket. this is a huge step forward for woman across america and we think it's a very good balance to make sure women get this important health benefit. jenna: it seems that the story will continue, it's highly political and personal when we talk about healthcare. secretary, it's nice to have you today and we look forward to having you back. >> that being you, good to visit with you. jon: we have another thorny issue involving church. church confessions in particular are they always confidential? a new legal case gaining a whole lot of attention and it could influence what people tell their priests and ministers. judge jeanine pirro with that, next. wake up! that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition.

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jon: can what you say in church be used against you in a court of law? a michigan court of appeals is weighing in on a case that could have serious repercussions on

church members. let's talk about it with judge jeanine pirro, the host of "justice with judge jeanine." at issue in this particular case, this is a case from two years ago, a guy goes to his church and con he fesses confesses to a minister there at a baptist congregation that he was involved in the sexual assault of an underage girl. was this >> what you this is the inch certificate section of the state's attempt to protect the rights of children who have been sexually molested, in this case a nine-year-old, and the time-honored, age-old priest or clergy privilege. it's somewhat inconsistent in the state of michigan. although the state of michigan specifically says a priest or clergyman cannot divulge contents of a conversation or a

confession, on the other hand they are stillma still mandated reporters who are required to report cases of child abuse. this wasn't necessarily a confession, because the pastor called the defendant in and said, you know i've heard from this little girl's mother that you may have raped her. it's a little more convoluted. i think what it comes down to is the priest privilege, is it going to continue to be respected, and i'll tell you why i think it will be despite the fact that this pastor was a mandated reporter. the judges are talking about we are going to have special hearings, was it a confession? was it not a confession? the defendant's mother was in the room. maybe there is no real privilege if it's dissipated because there is a third party present. and who decides, is it the thinking of the pennatent or the priest. it's almost as though you can

hear the judge saying, this is going to be a lot of work for us, let's protect and respect that age-old priest pennatent privilege. jon: like saul dividing the baby. this is going to be a tough one. judge jeanine pirro. jenna: a closer look how the media is handling the debate over the contraception mandate. jon has his news watch panel weighing in, and that is right after the break. [ male announcer ] if you think tylenol is the pain reliever orthopedic doctors recommend most for arthritis pain, think again. and take aleve. it's the one doctors recommend most for arthritis pain. two pills can last all day. ♪ but think about your heart. 2% has over half the saturated fat of whole milk. want to cut back on fat and not compromisen taste? try smart balance fat free milk. it's what you'd expect from the folks at smart balance. it's this... the etrade pro platform.

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jon: the battle over birth control and who pays for it sparking a firestorm of debate involving religion and politician thiand politics this week and also how the media is covering that issue. let's talk to judith miller, pulitzer prize author.

kristen phouers powers, a fox news contributor. some of the leadership of the catholic church said essentially according to "the new york times" that this issue was their pearl harbor, that the president was making catholic institutions pay for, or cover birth control and contraception and all kind of things that fly in the face of church doctrine, and they finally had enough. they rebelled and the white house had to backtrack from that. we just heard the president on live walking back this program a little bit. do you think it's going to satisfy the critics of the administration? >> it's a good compromise that they came up with i think. and i was somebody who was critical initially of what they announced and that they were basically telling the catholic church to get in line and nothing was going to be done about it that they had a year to implement it and they needed to do it. i do think it's a good compromise. the problem is that the catholic church and christian

organizations feel the administration is antireligion. they feel it's part of a broader problem, that they haven't been treated with respect, they feel like they are encroaching on the church and so i think that he may have done some permanent damage that is going to be a little bit hard to walk back even if there is agreement on this. jon: judy, a lot of people you read in the coverage there are people who aren't even practicing catholics, not even particularly religious who felt that this was sort of a heavy-handed government order, edict. >> i think that the white house finally took notice, once they discovered that jewish organizations were also siding with catholic institutions that didn't want to provide this coverage, and didn't want to provide these services. but i think that once again, the president's motivation, as he discussed on friday in his press conference was to assure the principle of access of all women everywhere to free contraception, and on that he

was absolutely right, and pretty much this compromise, as far as i'm concerned does it. there was an excellent piece in "the new york times" that said the catholic organizations had been lying in wait for a moment like this. that they had been building response to issues like this because they think of this administration as hostile to them. i don't think that is fair, but that's their per krepgs. jon: some called it an assault on religious freedom. i think that is the way a lot of people perceived it. >> it's not how it's been covered by the mainstream media. it's mostly a discussion about contraception is good or not. jon: that is how the president framed the argument in that news conference. he says contraception is a good thing and therefore that's why i wanted everybody to have it catholics and -- jon: there's been a lot of liberal catholics who have come out, people who are procontraception who have said this is not about contraception, this is about religious liberty. it's about you telling the catholic church what to do in

die fines of their beliefs. the mead yaw jon: also, judy i know you have something to say. >> always. jon: i also noticed that the president essentially got up there at the white house and said, people have made this into a political issue, and it's not. well it is. i mean all politics is local, and there is nothing more dear to some of these people than ordering them to pay for something, or their employers to pay for something that they don't agree with on religious grounds. >> i guess the question that i want to see answered is the question you raise, which is if this is the compromise why wasn't this the sensible position to begin with? what is it about the administration that thought they could shove this down people's throats? i continue to believe that the president was motivated by what he said he was motivated by, in that this is a very important women's issue.

however, that being said, it's clear that there was some tone deaf necessary here, and if you remember last week on news watch we discussed the fact that at the moment it was only being covered in the editorial opinion press, it hadn't even seeped down to the mainstream media. now everyone was covering it. jon: my prediction is that this compromise is not going to settle the issue. i still think there are going to be a lot of people complaining about what the white house is trying to do here. you think this is a good compromise, though? >> i think it's a good compromise. that doesn't mean it's going to be something that is going to sat fight people who are unhappy about it. jon: i have a big panel for news watch tomorrow. don't miss it, news watch 2:30 p.m. eastern time, and we'll be right back.

jon: we are pushing toward that mid-february time of year when you have to enjoy your weekend without football. but jenna lee try to have a great weeke