Rules on contraceptive coverage blocked

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A US judge blocked President Donald Trump's administration from moving forward with new rules that undermined an Obamacare requirement for employers to provide health insurance that covers women's birth control on Friday.

US District Judge Wendy Beetlestone in Philadelphia issued a preliminary injunction preventing enforcement of rules that the administration announced in October which allowed businesses or non-profits to obtain exemptions on moral or religious grounds.

Beetlestone wrote that Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, a Democrat who sued to block the rules, was likely to succeed in establishing that the administration did not follow proper notice procedures when issuing the new rules.

The judge said the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Department of Labor and the Department of Treasury had also interpreted the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, "in a manner inconsistent with its text."

Beetlestone cited the "remarkable breadth" of the new rules, which she said would allow closely held corporations to deny contraceptive coverage for female employees not just for religious reasons but also for any moral reason they could articulate.

In an example that she said showed the moral exemption rule's "insidious effect," Beetlestone said an employer who believed women did not have a place in the workplace could simply stop providing contraceptive coverage.

"It is difficult to comprehend a rule that does more to undermine the Contraceptive Mandate or that intrudes more into the lives of women," Beetlestone wrote.

Reuters Photo

Shapiro said the nationwide injunction would protect women around the country.

"Donald Trump broke the law to undermine women's health, and women here in Pennsylvania stood up and proved that in court," he said in a statement.

The US Justice Department defended the rules in court. Department spokeswoman Lauren Ehrsam said it was disappointed and is "committed to defending the religious liberty of all Americans."

The lawsuit is among several that Democratic state attorneys general filed after the Republican Trump administration revealed the new rules on October 6. A federal judge in California heard arguments in a similar case on Tuesday.

The rules targeted the contraceptive mandate that was implemented as part of 2010's Affordable Care Act.

The rules will let businesses or non-profits lodge religious or moral objections to obtain an exemption from the law's mandate that employers provide contraceptive coverage in health insurance with no co-payment.

Conservative Christian activists and congressional Republicans praised the move, while reproductive rights advocates and Democrats criticized it.

Source(s): Reuters