Supreme Court agrees to review contraceptives requirement

The Supreme Court agreed on Friday to step in and review the Trump administration’s attempt to weaken the so-called “contraceptive mandate,” the Affordable Care Act’s long-controversial requirement that employer-provided health insurance plans cover birth control as a preventive service.

The court took up two cases concerning the contraception mandate: one appeal brought by the Trump administration and the other by the Roman Catholic religious order for women the Little Sisters of the Poor. It is likely that decision would come out this year in the heat of the presidential election.

The cases address the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that many group health plans and insurance companies to provide preventive services that include contraception without a copay. The so-called “contraceptive mandate” exempts churches and other entities with religious objections.

In 2018, the Trump administration expanded those exemptions to cover other entities with sincere religious or moral objections. The new rules were challenged by Pennsylvania and other states, as well as by the Little Sisters. Lower courts have blocked the Trump administration rules nationwide, with the 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals affirming a Pennsylvania federal level ruling against the Little Sisters in July. The Little Sisters’ petition asked the court to consider whether the group could bring the case, as well as the question of whether the federal government can legally provide religious exemptions to the contraceptive mandate.