On Wednesday the Trump administration released two final rules regarding businesses who have religious objections to purchasing healthcare options that cover their employees’ use of abortion inducing drugs.
Almost a year ago, the Trump administration issued a interim rule with new exemptions for the Little Sisters of the Poor
The exemption came in the form of an executive order issued by President Trump. which rolled back the Obamacare birth control mandate that forced Christian businesses and organizations to pay for abortion inducing forms of contraception through the health care plans offered to their employees.
With the issue of the executive orders, the Trump administration stated legal reasons for the two rules issued: both religious and moral objections.
The first rule provides an exemption from Obamacare’s contraceptive mandate for entities and individuals with religious objections to the mandate.
The second rule provides an exemption to nonprofit organizations, small businesses, and individuals with non-religious but moral opposition to such coverage.
The pro life group the Susan B. Anthony List praised the Trump administration for finalizing the rules protecting both religious and moral objections brought about from the burdensome Obamacare mandate:
“Today President Trump and HHS Secretary Azar delivered a huge victory for conscience rights and religious liberty in America,” said SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser. “No longer will Catholic nuns who care for the elderly poor be forced by the government to provide abortion-inducing drugs in their health care plans. Not only that, moral objectors such as Susan B. Anthony List will also no longer have to pay for life-ending drugs that are antithetical to their mission and for which we have argued there is certainly no ‘compelling state interest.’”
“The Obama administration’s repeated violations of conscience were deeply contrary to the core of our nation, which was built on the foundation of respect for the individual freedoms of the people and deeply held religious beliefs. We thank President Trump for fulfilling a core promise to voters of faith and conscience who elected him and thank Secretary Azar for implementing these important regulations.”
The executive order promises that the Trump administration will “provide regulatory relief for religious objectors to Obamacare’s burdensome preventive services mandate, a position supported by the Supreme Court decision in Hobby Lobby.”
