Whatever their differences on birth control, both Kashon women - like many Catholics - expressed the basic view that the Catholic Church should not be forced to do something against its core beliefs.
Traditional Catholic teachings hold that sex is for procreation and that anything that would impede a pregnancy is not right.
Under the White House's new plan, announced Friday, charities and universities with religious affiliations would not be required to provide insurance plans that cover birth control.
But the insurers that administer those plans would be required to provide contraception services at no charge to employees of those institutions who request them.
Critics of the president's plan call it a threat to religious liberty.
"It's a crock! It's a way to get around it," Margaret Johnson, 68, said outside Sacred Heart Church in Clifton Heights. "I'm very pro-life."
But she was not "totally against contraception."
Johnson said people who take jobs with a Catholic institution should know the church opposes birth control and should not expect birth-control coverage.
"I have to pay extra for my dental," which is not covered under her insurance, Johnson said. "I'll equate it to that."
Some older women at the parish were simply opposed to the idea of preventing pregnancies.
"I don't believe in birth control; it's considered a sin," said Rose Marie Dee, 83, of Clifton Heights.
The mother of a son, Dee said she never used contraceptives and always wished she had had more children.
Dee, who voted for Obama in 2008, is considering voting for Republican Rick Santorum, a Catholic, who she said had taken a more vocal pro-life stance than other candidates.
