White House: confident Supreme Court will say contraception mandate legal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama believes the U.S. Supreme Court will back a provision of the healthcare law requiring employers to provide insurance that covers birth control, the White House said on Tuesday. "We believe this requirement is lawful and essential to women's health and are confident the Supreme Court will agree," the White House said in a statement issued shortly after the court said it would consider the cases, brought by companies whose owners opposed the law on religious grounds. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Vicki Allen)