(AP) — A federal judge in California is blocking a Trump administration rule that would allow more companies to opt out of providing free birth control to women. California joined 12 other states and Washington, DC to stop the rule from going into effect Monday while a lawsuit against it moves forward.
Judge Haywood Gilliam limited the ruling to just the 13 states involved in the lawsuit and he didn’t block the rule from going into effect nationwide. The rule would allow more companies to cite religious grounds to get out of providing birth control to employees.
(SL) – Planned Parenthood says the Trump Administration is taking aim at 62-million American women by rolling back a federal mandate on birth control. The Obamacare rule requires employers to include contraceptive coverage in health insurance plans.
A new rule would reportedly allow more employers and insurers to exempt themselves for moral and religious reasons. Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood Foundation of America, called the decision an “unacceptable attack on basic health care that the vast majority of women rely on.”
Richards said she would not allow President Trump to “roll back the progress women have made over the past century.”
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was pressed about the move in a briefing today. Her response, “This is a president who supports the first amendment and the freedom of religion. I don’t understand why that should be an issue.”
The National Women’s Law Center has vowed to challenge the new rule in court.
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