Trump Administration Rolls Back Obamacare Birth Control Mandate

Following the midterm elections, the Trump administration moved to further protect the lives of the unborn by rolling back some mandates from the Obama era.

Under Obamacare, employers had little choice in the matter of contraception coverage or religious freedom; they had to cover birth control pills and even abortion, even if their faith and beliefs oppose these methods.

Designed to protect people of faith (including employers) from having to fund things they do not believe in; the actions were announced by then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

The Department of Health and Human Services moved to roll back federal requirements that forced employers to cover birth control in health insurance. While employers are still free to offer this coverage, they are no longer forced to do so. In the past, regardless of faith or moral code, religious based employers were compelled to comply. The latest Obama era rollback removes this burden from faith-based organizations.

Not surprisingly, these increased protections prompted immediate lawsuits, with some brought by Democratic leaders to block these new protections. Attorney generals of Massachusetts and California immediately filed suit to block these protections for people and organizations of faith.

To conservatives and religious groups, though, the new rules removed barriers and provided important protections for the unborn. According to the New York Times, Speaker Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin called the rollback “a landmark day for religious liberty.” The Little Sisters of the Poor, Roman Catholic nuns also responded with joy; the group had long resisted the Obamacare mandate because it would make them “morally complicit in grave sin.”

“The new administration isn’t going to force Catholic nuns to provide contraceptives,” an attorney for the Catholic group told the New York Times. “We’ve been on a long, divisive culture war because the last administration decided nuns needed to give out contraceptives.”

The new mandates are designed to heighten protections for religious groups during a time when politically correct policies on birth control, abortion and gender identity continue to chip away at freedoms. Under the new directive, employers in particular are offered expanded protections and will no longer be compelled to provide things that are in opposition to their own religious beliefs.

The latest protection ensures that religious groups that care for children are not forced to approve adoptions for same sex couples and that religious charities do not have to hire individuals who do not comply with their internal beliefs on LGBT issues. Under previous rulings, organizations could be penalized in a variety of ways for following their core religious principles, from being barred from FEMA relief after an emergency to be the target of discrimination lawsuits.

Tennessee Representative Diane Black said the new rules on contraception were “a resounding victory for true-believing Americans.” They will, she said, end the “persecution of ordinary Americans who for years have been seeking only the freedom to live in accordance with their faith, free from government interference.”

Lawsuits on both matters are forthcoming, even as the conservatives and religious organizations celebrate and can finally carry out their missions without fear of repercussion from the government.

~ Liberty Planet


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