2nd judge blocks birth-control policy

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge blocked the attempt by President Donald Trump’s administration to allow more employers to opt out of providing women with no-cost birth control, saying Thursday that California faces potentially “dire” public health and financial consequences from the revision to a provision in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam in Oakland, Calif., became the second federal judge in the country to block the changes to the health care law, saying the Trump administration failed to provide the required notice and public comment period before implementing them.

Last week, a federal judge in Philadelphia cited similar reasons in her nationwide injunction against the rules. That decision came in a lawsuit brought by the state of Pennsylvania.

Gilliam’s ruling came in a separate lawsuit brought by the state of California, which was joined by Delaware, Maryland, New York and Virginia. Gilliam’s preliminary injunction will hold while the lawsuit moves forward.

The new policy would allow more categories of employers, including publicly traded companies, to opt out of providing free contraception by claiming religious objections. It would allow any company that is not publicly traded to deny coverage on moral grounds.

AP/The Herald-Palladium/DON CAMPBELL Volunteers load turkeys and food boxes Thursday for a holiday food program at the Southwest Michigan Community Action Agency’s warehouse in Benton Harbor, Mich. The program collects and distributes 400 turkeys and other food to needy people.