On Wednesday, the Rev. John Jenkins, president of the University of Notre Dame, wrote a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius asking that the Obama administration broaden its definition of “religious employer” in its healthcare overhaul.

“President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul should be changed so that religious schools such as the University of Notre Dame aren’t required to go against their beliefs and provide birth control to students and employees,” wrote Jenkins.

Under the law, Notre Dame and other Catholic universities would be required to offer prescription contraceptives and sterilization services to students and employees through their healthcare plans. Jenkins said that provision would place the school in an impossible position: “This would compel Notre Dame to either pay for contraception and sterilization in violation of the church’s moral teaching, or to discontinue our employee and student health care plans in violation of the church’s social teaching.”

A panel of health experts advising the Obama administration last month recommended that the government require health insurance companies to cover birth control for women as preventive care and without co-payments. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services asked for public comment on its proposed conscience clause, and Jenkins was writing in response to that request.

The Notre Dame president, who was criticized by dozens of Catholic bishops for inviting Obama to speak at the university’s commencement last May, noted that during his speech, Obama said he favored “a sensible conscience clause.” But Jenkins said the proposed change in law “runs contrary to a 40-year history of federal conscience statutes” and doesn’t reflect the sensible approach Obama talked about in his speech.

Jenkins urged Sebelius to change the definition of religious employer to the one used by the Internal Revenue Service, which considers whether an organization or institution shares common religious bonds and convictions with a church.

“This definition more adequately defines religious employers to include all organizations that work in ministries of the church,” Jenkins wrote.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.