The U.S. Supreme Court has made it more difficult for women to get access to birth control as part of their health plans if their employer has religious or moral objections to contraceptives.
The opinion upheld a Trump administration rule that significantly cut back on the Affordable Care Act requirement that insurers provide free birth control coverage as part of almost all health care plans.
“We hold that the [Trump administration] had the authority to provide exemptions from the regulatory contraceptive requirements for employers with religious and conscientious objections,” Justice Clarence Thomas wrote for the majority.
He was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts, and Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Brett M. Kavanaugh.
The case now goes back to a lower court, which the Supreme Court ordered to lift an injunction that had prevented the implementation of the exception.
Justices Elena Kagan and Stephen Breyer, two of the court’s four liberals, did not join the majority opinion, but said they agreed with the conservatives to send the case back to the lower court.
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