Posted on 11/10/2017 5:08:03 PM PST by markomalley
Five states are going to court to try to preserve an Obamacare mandate that forces employers and insurance plans to offer free birth control.
California, Delaware, Maryland, New York and Virginia late Thursday filed a request for a preliminary injunction to stop federal regulations that weaken Obamacare’s birth control mandate. California had sued to stop the rollback after it was announced by the Trump administration in early October.
“These backwards rules will deny millions of women across the U.S. access to healthcare, unconstitutionally permitting discrimination against women,” California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said Thursday about the new court filing. “The Affordable Care Act protects women’s access to healthcare. We will not stand by while the Trump Administration continues to disregard the rule of law.”
The Trump administration issued two interim rules in early October that would exempt employers from Obamacare’s requirement of having to provide birth control if they have a religious or moral objection. The rule would largely roll back the mandate, and administration officials said the reason was to halt attacks on religious liberty.
The birth control mandate exempted religious organizations such as churches but didn’t give a religious or moral exemption to general employers.
The injunction request from the five states asks a federal district court in California to immediately halt the interim rule. The states say the rules violate the separation of church and state outlined in the Constitution.
The rules went into effect immediately, which prompted a concern about the impact on the states, the court filing adds.
The states argue that the Trump administration failed to provide notice and comments as required under federal law. They add that the administration offered “no persuasive reason to circumvent the normal rule-making process, relying primarily on their desire to implement the regulations as soon as possible.”
The Department of Health and Human Services did not return a request for comment.
So now our government must provide everybody free contraceptives? I wish the Muslims would go ahead and take over. It could not be worse.
Why don’t they just pass their own law?
All are Democrat held territory
Let them pay for it rather than wasting Tax Dollars taking this to Court.
Virginia is indeed lost.
Why should the U.S. taxpayer finance this? We are the ones being screwed…as usual.
By no stretch of the imagination does this violate separation of church and state. It simply permits employers to exercise their constitutional right of freedom of religion. Which includes not being forced to go against your faith or conscience without a compelling state reason. Birth control is readily available and affordable. Insurance companies can certainly offer riders to employees of businesses that don’t provide them through their group coverage. The FDA could decide that certain contraceptive be OTC.
This is not about access to contraceptives. It is about shutting up the voice of faithful Christians and others whose moral beliefs don’t meet the approval of the Left.
Brian Fr0sh is at it again!
Maryland “Freak State” PING!
“These backwards rules will deny millions of women across the U.S. access to healthcare, unconstitutionally permitting discrimination against women,”
Oh this is really stupid. The women in question will not be denied healthcare, they just will have to pay for their indiscretions themselves. As far as it goes, the act of accepting free birth control borders on the endge of prostitution since I am paying for it and they are not giving any sex to me. (Whether I want it or not) Additionally, besides being a con for their own gratification, I cannot find any entry in the Constitutional amendments or even the Bill of Rights that makes the requirement of free birth control by the taxpayer money a right.
rwood
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