Judge Vacates Trump-Era Religious Exemptions to ACA Contraception Rule

A federal judge has invalidated Trump-era regulations that allowed employers to opt out of the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that health plans cover contraceptives at no cost to employees. U.S. District Judge Wendy Beetlestone in Philadelphia on Aug. 13 vacated the 2018 rules, saying the agencies behind them—the Department of Health and Human Services, Labor and Treasury—acted arbitrarily and capriciously and failed to provide the reasoned analysis required under the Administrative Procedure Act. The decision grants summary judgment to Pennsylvania and New Jersey, which argued the exemptions were overly broad and undermined women’s access to preventive health care. The ruling bars the federal government from enforcing both religious and moral exemptions nationwide, affecting organisations that had relied on the rules, including the Catholic order Little Sisters of the Poor, which intervened in the litigation. Beetlestone found the agencies’ justification—that the exemptions resolved conflicts with the Religious Freedom Restoration Act—was not logically connected to the scope of the relief they issued. Attorneys for the Little Sisters said they are considering another appeal, potentially sending the dispute back to the U.S. Supreme Court, which sided with the order in a related 2020 case.