WASHINGTON — A federal court issued a preliminary injunction on Friday blocking a Trump administration rule on insurance coverage of contraceptives for women.
Judge Wendy Beetlestone of the Federal District Court in Philadelphia said the rule contradicts the text of the Affordable Care Act by allowing employers to opt out of providing contraceptive coverage if they have religious or moral objections.
In the lawsuit, filed by the state of Pennsylvania, the judge said the rule would cause irreparable harm because tens of thousands of women would lose contraceptive coverage.
The Affordable Care Act contains no statutory language allowing federal agencies to create such “sweeping exemptions” to the law’s requirements to cover preventive services, Judge Beetlestone declared.
The Trump administration rule reversed a policy of the Obama administration that generally required employers and insurers to provide women with coverage for contraceptives without co-payments, deductibles or other costs.
“A simple hypothetical illustrates the insidious effect” of the new rule, Judge Beetlestone wrote. “It would allow an employer with a sincerely held moral conviction that women do not have a place in the workplace to simply stop providing contraceptive coverage.”
