U.S. court upholds opt-out from birth control

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday sided with the Trump administration in its effort to allow employers who cite religious or moral objections to opt out of providing no-cost birth control to women as required by the Affordable Care Act.

The high court on Wednesday said 7-2 the administration acted properly when it made the change, which lower courts had blocked.

“We hold today that the Departments had the statutory authority to craft that exemption, as well as the contemporaneously issued moral exemption.

“We further hold that the rules promulgating these exemptions are free from procedural defects,” Justice Clarence Thomas wrote for a majority of the court.

The government had estimated that the rule changes would cause about 70,000 women, and at most 126,000 women, to lose contraception coverage in one year.

Birth control has been a topic of contention since the law was passed. Initially, churches, synagogues and mosques were exempt from the contraceptive coverage requirement.

The Obama administration also created a way by which religiously affiliated organizations including hospitals, universities and charities could opt out of paying for contraception, but women on their health plans would still get no-cost birth control.

Some groups complained the opt-out process itself violated their religious beliefs.