WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, the Trump Administration rolled back a mandate in President Obama’s Affordable Care Act (ACA) which required employers and insurers under the ACA to provide health insurance that allowed affordable opportunities to acquire birth control and contraception access. Instead, employers can now claim so-called “religious exemptions” as an excuse to deny healthcare to approximately 55 million women and an untold number of transgender and nonconforming people who rely on no-copay contraception benefit provided by the ACA.
“I think what the Trump administration is trying to do is effectively gut the rule without repealing it, because repealing it would be so unpopular,” said Gretchen Borchelt, vice president for reproductive rights and health at the National Women’s Law Center. “They’re taking contraception coverage away from women without justification.”
“It is a dangerous overreach for President Trump to try and dictate how women and LGBTQ Americans access their health care and contraception,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of GLAAD. “The Trump Administration is actively cloaking controversial policies under so-called ‘religious exemptions’ when the policies, in fact, directly attack marginalized communities who often experience discrimination at a daily basis. President Trump must be called out for hiding behind so-called ‘religious exemptions’ and held accountable for his clear anti-LGBTQ and anti-woman agenda.”
Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, issued the following statement following the Trump’s adminisration’s announcement.
“This is a direct attack on women’s rights. The Trump administration is using the guise of religious liberty to carry out their ideological agenda to deprive women of basic reproductive health care. The obstacles caused by the roll back of the contraception mandate will harm millions of women, especially low-income women and women of color, across the country, affecting where they go to work, go to school, or receive health care.
The Leadership Conference coalition, which includes many faith-based organizations, recognizes religious liberty as a core American value and supported the previous rule which accommodated objections and exempted houses of worship. The First Amendment does not allow anyone to impose their beliefs onto others, nor does it authorize discrimination.”
