Second federal court blocks...

Second federal court blocks Trump’s contraception rule

By ALICE MIRANDA OLLSTEIN

A federal judge in Pennsylvania put a nationwide block on Trump administration rules allowing virtually any employer to deny workers' birth control coverage, one day after a federal judge halted the rules in a smaller group of states.

In her Monday afternoon ruling, Judge Wendy Beetlestone sided with a group of Democratic attorneys general challenging the administration's policy as unconstitutional and in violation of the Affordable Care Act. The Trump rules, which would allow broad leeway for employers to claim a religious or moral objection to covering birth control, officially took effect Monday morning.

Beetlestone’s ruling is more expansive than a similar decision Sunday night in a different court. U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam in California issued a partial injunction blocking the policy from taking effect in the 13 states and Washington, D.C., that were behind the separate lawsuit.

The pair of federal court rulings is yet another setback for the Trump administration’s attempts to roll back one of the most impactful and controversial provisions stemming from the Affordable Care Act – the mandate that health insurance fully cover all forms of FDA-approved birth control with no co-pays. The administration first issued the rule allowing wide exemptions in 2017 without taking public comment, and it was swiftly blocked by multiple courts.

The same conservative and religious groups who have been fighting the contraception mandate since 2013, shortly after it took effect, have vowed to keep fighting, and the case could eventually go to the Supreme Court.