Trump relaxes contraceptive mandate

WASHINGTON—The Trump administration unveiled broad new exemptions for the federal government’s contraceptive and abortifacient mandate Friday, rolling back controversial Obama-era rules. The new policy revises regulations implemented under the Affordable Care Act that required most companies to provide insurance with full coverage of birth control for women. The executive action expands the list of types of companies that can opt out of the mandate. The new exemption list includes nonprofit groups that morally object to providing birth control. It also exempts for-profit groups that are not publicly traded and have religious objections to the mandate and insurance companies with religious affiliations. “Today President Trump delivered a huge victory for conscience rights and religious liberty in America,” Susan B. Anthony List president Marjorie Dannenfelser said. “No longer will Catholic nuns who care for the elderly poor be forced by the government to provide abortion-inducing drugs in their healthcare plans.” The new guidance comes after the filing of dozens of lawsuits protesting the contraceptive mandate, which was implemented under President Barack Obama. The Trump administration estimated that at least 200 employers who already voiced objections to the Obama-era policy would now qualify for the exemption. “Millions of Americans want no part of an insurance system that subsidizes the destruction of innocent human life, and [Health and Human Service]’s new interim regulation respects that principled stand,” said Catherine Glenn Foster, president and CEO of Americans United for Life.