Federal courts this week blocked two Interim Final Rules (IFRs) from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that would have significantly expanded the ability of employers to deny coverage of contraceptives for female employees on the basis of religious or moral objections.
On January 14th, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania issued an order granting the motion for a preliminary nationwide injunction blocking the implementation of the two IFRs from HHS that would have expanded the ability of employers to cite moral and religious objections in seeking exemptions from the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) contraceptive mandate. That mandate requires all employers that provide employer-sponsored insurance for their employees to cover contraceptives, with narrow exemptions (e.g., religious entities and closely held for-profit corporations).
The Pennsylvania ruling followed a January 13th ruling from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California also blocking the implementation of these two IFRs in the 13 plaintiff states in that lawsuit (California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington), plus the District of Columbia; the judge in the Northern District of California prominently cited ANA’s amicus curiae brief in his order granting the motion for a preliminary injunction.
These IFRs would be particularly damaging given the administration’s proposed regulatory changes to Title X funding, which provides grants for critical family planning services for millions of Americans, particularly low-income women. HHS itself notes in its analysis of the blocked IFRs that they would result in over 125,000 more women relying on Title X programs for reproductive health care services, even as the administration has taken steps that would restrict the ability of Title X programs to provide those services.
These injunctions block HHS from implementing the two IFRs, which were supposed to go into effect on January 14th; the narrower Obama-era exemption policy remains in place during the injunction. It is worth noting that two nearly identical IFRs were also blocked in the same district courts in December 2017. Experts widely expect the defendants in these cases to appeal to the U.S. Courts of Appeals in the Third Circuit and the Ninth Circuit, respectively.
ANA firmly believes in universal access to comprehensive and affordable health care services for all Americans. Access to basic, preventive reproductive health care, such as birth control, cancer screenings, STI testing and treatment, and well-woman exams is critical to the overall well-being of women of all ages and is an essential health benefit. ANA will continue to advocate for universal access to quality, affordable, and accessible health care services, including basic, preventive reproductive health care services, for all Americans.