The Trump administration will allow virtually any employer to claim a religious or moral objection to Obamacare’s birth control coverage mandate under a sweeping rollback announced Friday.
The new policies, which take effect immediately, reignite a fierce battle over one of the health care law’s most controversial provisions and quickly drew legal challenges. The requirement to provide FDA-approved contraception at no cost was long opposed by religious groups that heavily favored Trump, and has been wrapped up in litigation for more than five years.
“The United States has a long history of providing conscience protections in the regulation of health care for entities and individuals with objections based on religious beliefs or moral convictions,” the administration wrote in new rules.
The American Civil Liberties Union said it will file a lawsuit on Friday to block the long-anticipated rules from the Trump administration, and California Attorney General Xavier Becerra also announced plans to sue. Women’s health groups for months have been preparing lawsuits against the new policies, which they say will enable employers to deny their workers access to needed care.
The administration issued two rules — one outlining how an employer could claim an exemption for religious beliefs, the other outlining an exemption for sincerely held moral convictions — on the same day Attorney General Jeff Sessions called for sweeping protections for religious freedom in a government-wide memo that could have far-reaching implications.
“Today President Trump delivered a huge victory for conscience rights and religious liberty in America,” said Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser in a statement. “No longer will Catholic nuns who care for the elderly poor be forced by the government to provide abortion-inducing drugs in their health care plans.”
Full story at Politico.
Hey Catholics, this is certainly not something Hillary would have done. Oh, you’re pro-contraception? Time to repent and get yourself to confession.
Thank You, President Trump, for supporting conscience protection in the workplace.
I don’t respect President Trump. He violates all of God’s Laws ! He shows no respect for anything or anyone ! You people don’t care what he does, as long as he interferes with private decisions about birth control ! He mocks the disabled, ridicules people’s looks, has a nasty look all the time. All against God’s Laws ! Kristine
I am not fond of everything President Trump does or has done, but he did not mock the disabled for being disabled. I suggest you look up the full video of what he actually did and said. The motion he made about what the man in the wheel chair said is a motion he uses for most everyone with whom he disagrees. News sources show you only what they want you to see.
Now “nasty looks are against God’s laws?”
Well, a lot of bishops with whom many of us have had to work are in for a heap of trouble at the Last Judgment.
Nasty looks are a rejection of God’s call to Christian charity, even if we disagree with someone.
But since the topic was conscience protection regarding the mortal sin of contraception, your remarks are superfluous, Kristine. As Catholics, we must defend morality and should be grateful for President Trump’s cooperation on this very important issue.
So Kristin, are you saying that Catholic Canon law and catholic prohibitions against what you call the “mortal sin of contraception” should be enshrined in American Civil Law? I’m just wondering because it seems to me that you have no defense against someone who wants to incorporate Muslim notions of sin into those same American laws. Would you favor adopting sharia law? I assume the answer is no. Then why do you expect Americans to incorporate Canon Law into its civil laws?
“YFC”, American law accepts the principle of conscience protection, it does not rule on Catholic canon law. President Trump’s policy, thankfully, is in line with both, hence my appreciative remarks.
BTW, “YFC”, as a Catholic, you should also recognize contraception as mortal sin. Read your catechism and allow your conscience to be properly ordered.
YFC follows his passion and expects us to agree with him, he is fake Catholic spreading lies and deceit.
Well, don’t you sound like a reasonable and measured person.
God bless President Trump for this. The birth control pill I believe is the number one contributor to certain female cancers and other medical problems. Married people should use Natural Family Planning if they have a need to space children or avoid pregnancy for serious reason.
President Trump is a good friend for Catholics to have in the White House. His predecessor was a staunch enemy.
Thank you President Trump!
President Trump has amply demonstrated that Catholics who supported Hillary were very wrong to have done so. Will any of the bishops who have had screeching hissy fits about immigration policy congratulate and laud President Trump’s action in this matter?
Yes. All of them.
President Trump is the best promise keeper in my lifetime. The children that will not be aborted thank our great President. This is going to drive our Cultural Marxist compatriots crazy, but there is so much going on that they will be unable to the make the damage they desire to our liberties.
Yes! Trump! More faithful to his word than any of the Bishops seem to be.
This is wonderful news!
Don’t wait for the bishops to start praising Trump
President Trump has already done more for life and morality and personal freedom in America than any other recent US President. He has a good sense of the need to protect life and has the courage to move into that field regardless of political fallout.
President Obama was a dictator, with scant interest in anything that failed to give him political power. Sadly, the Catholic Church’s leaders aided in Obama’s effort by making him look morally acceptable, whether through honors from Notre Dame, the palsy embrace of Cardinal Dolan, or the USCCB’s voter guide.
The guy gropes women in public and brags about it on TV. Is that what you mean by “life and morality”?
Good for President Trump!
We’ll see how this plays out in the secular employment market. A small to medium ‘mom and pop’ shop, with only a few employees, might find desirable employees who are willing to work without employer paid birth control insurance coverage. I suspect larger employers will have competitors who offer such coverage. Many prospective employees will expect the coverage.