Federal Judge Issues National Injunction, Stops Trump's New Religious Exemption Rules on Birth Control

Kayla Koslosky | ChristianHeadlines.com Editor | Updated: Jan 15, 2019
Federal Judge Issues National Injunction, Stops Trump's New Religious Exemption Rules on Birth Control

Federal Judge Issues National Injunction, Stops Trump's New Religious Exemption Rules on Birth Control

A Philadelphia federal judge has issued an injunction to stop the Trump administration’s rules which would broaden religious exemptions for the birth control mandate in health insurance plans, from going into effect on Monday.  

According to the New York Times, U.S. Federal District Court Judge Wendy Beetlestone issued a nation-wide injunction Monday to stop the Trump Administration’s contraception rules from going into effect, only one day after a California Federal Judge issued a 13-state injunction.

The Washington Examiner explained that the new rules would allow employers to choose if they would offer health care coverage that would include contraception based on their religious or moral values. 

The National Review reports, only churches and small private employers are currently exempt from the Obama-era policy that requires all employers to provide health-care coverage for birth control at no additional cost to the employee.

According to the New York Times, representatives for the states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey challenged these new rules before Beetlestone, saying that the rules would cause the states a great deal of hardship as they would have to provide contraception to women who lost coverage.

Caitlin Oakley, spokeswoman for Health and Human Services, made a statement about the injunction calling it a violation of American’s constitutional rights. According to the National Review, she said, “No American should be forced to violate his or her own conscience in order to abide by the laws and regulations governing our health care system. The final rules affirm the Trump Administration’s commitment to upholding the freedoms afforded all Americans under our Constitution.”

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, on the other hand, took to Twitter to celebrate the ruling, he wrote, “COURT WIN. MyOffice just won big, securing another *national injunction* against @POTUS + @HHSGov’s assault on women’s contraceptive care coverage.”

Photo courtesy: Unsplash



Federal Judge Issues National Injunction, Stops Trump's New Religious Exemption Rules on Birth Control