Obamacare Birth Control Opt Out Rules Valid, Trump Agencies Say

Trump administration rules granting employers with religious or moral objections the right to opt out of providing employee health plans that pay for birth control are valid and should be upheld because the agencies fully considered the arguments for and against adopting them, those agencies told a federal court.

The U.S. Health and Human Services, Labor, and Treasury departments narrowly designed the final rules to address employers’ sincere religious objections to Obamacare’s contraceptive mandate, considered comments about the rules and their effect on women’s health care, and explained their reasons for changing the former administration’s policy, the agencies said. ...