7-2 RULING

SCOTUS Upholds Exemptions to Obamacare Birth Control Mandate for Employers Who Object

The Trump administration allowed employers to stop providing free birth control if they had religious or moral objections.

The Supreme Court has upheld the Trump administration’s exemptions for employers who don’t want to provide free birth-control coverage—a provision of the Affordable Care Act—based on religious or moral objections. In a 7-2 ruling Wednesday in Little Sisters of the Poor Saints Peter and Paul Home v. Pennsylvania, the court said the Department of Health and Human Services had the authority to provide exemptions. The contraceptive mandate in the ACA required employers to provide health-insurance plans that cover birth control at no cost to employees. It triggered a years-long legal dispute between those who advocated for religious liberties and those who supported widespread access to birth control.