President Joe Biden’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is withdrawing proposed rules that would have limited the ability of employers to opt out of covering birth control for their employees.
HHS issued a notice in the Federal Register on Monday announcing it was rescinding rules “that would have prevented employers from claiming exemptions based on ‘non-religious moral objections’ to the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive mandate.” Was,” politico Informed.
HHS said the department was canceling the proposed rules in the final days of the Biden administration to “focus our time and resources on matters other than finalizing these rules” before Donald Trump returns to the White House.
The Becket Fund for Religious Freedom, which represents an order of nuns called the Little Sisters of the Poor who have repeatedly legally challenged the ACA’s birth control mandate, celebrated the news and posted on social media. Did that “Christmas came a little early this year.”
“In 2011, the federal government told this group of nuns to park their nuns at the entrance to a public square or face millions of dollars in fines. For the sisters, this was not much of an option, so they fought in court,” the Becket Fund wrote. “With Beckett’s help, he defeated the federal government [the Supreme Court]Not once, but twice and still defending his ministry against a group of states led by California and Pennsylvania.
The statement continues, “Those court battles have been on ice for years because of the new contraceptive mandate rule, which the Biden administration kept promising to release.” “As noted, the new rule will not be issued, which will hopefully reduce the states’ cases against them, leading to an ultimate victory for the nuns, whose sole mission is to care for the dying elderly until God doesn’t call them home.”
According to the report, the rules would have created a way for employees of religious organizations who object to birth control to still be able to get it for free. The rule proposes that those workers would be able to obtain birth control at no charge directly from their health care providers, rather than from their employer.
“By rescinding the rules, HHS leaves its place Rules made by Trump administration According to the report, it significantly rolled back the ACA contraceptive mandate by allowing any objecting employer – whether religious, secular, large or small – to claim an exemption.
Under the ACA, contraceptive coverage is part of a long list of services that health insurers are mandated to cover at no cost to patients. Under a 2018 rule put in place during the Trump administration, private health plans and insurance companies are allowed to drop coverage of contraceptive services if employers object.
“Although those rules included a mechanism for people to obtain contraceptive coverage, the employer, college, or university who objected had to choose the accommodation option,” the report said.
