PREZ PILL PULLBACK

Gives biz religious, moral opt-out for birth control

The Trump administration issued a rule Friday that would let more employers opt out of providing free birth control to women by claiming religious or moral objections.

The new policy was a long-expected revision to ObamaCare rules that required most companies to cover birth control for free as preventive care for women.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the change was made to preserve religious freedom.

“The president believes that the freedom to practice one’s faith is a fundamental right in this country and that’s all today was about. Our federal government should always protect that right. As long as Donald Trump is president, he will,” she said.

Trump’s religious and moral exemption is expected to fire up both his opponents and the religious conservatives who back him, but it’s not expected to have much impact on America's largely secular workplaces.

The administration estimated that some 200 employers who have already voiced objections to the Obama-era policy would qualify for the expanded opt-out, and that 120,000 women would be affected.

But it’s unclear how major reli- gious-affiliated employers such as Catholic hospitals and universities will respond.

Companies that want to eliminate the benefit would simply have to apply to the federal government.

Since contraception became a covered preventive benefit, the share of women employees paying their own money for birth control pills has plunged to less than 4 percent, from 21 percent, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

The Trump administration’s revision broadens a religious exemption that previously applied to houses of worship, religiously affiliated nonprofit groups, and closely held private companies.

Privately owned for-profit companies, as well as publicly traded for-profit companies will be able to seek an exemption.

Doctors’ groups that were key to derailing Republican plans to repeal ObamaCare outright expressed dismay over the administration’s move on birth control.

The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists said the new policy could reverse recent progress in lowering the nation’s rate of unintended pregnancies.

Women’s groups said they would go to court to fight the administration’s move.

“The rules give employers a license to discriminate against women,” said Fatima Goss Graves, president of the National Women’s Law Center. “We will take immediate legal steps to block these unfair and discriminatory rules.”

Administration officials said the new policy takes effect immediately.