A US District judge has blocked new rules that granted a religious freedom accommodation [1] to employers who had a conscientious objection to providing abortifacient and contraceptive coverage for their employees.
The original regulation from the Obama administration forcing all employers to provide such coverage was found to be unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. That case had been taken by a convent of nuns, the Little Sisters of the Poor, who objected to paying for health coverage that included contraceptives and abortifacients.
The exemption proposed by the Trump administration allowed employers and insurers to decline to provide birth control if doing so violated their “religious beliefs” or “moral convictions”.
It has now been blocked by a Federal District judge in Philadelphia. It is expected the decision will be appealed.