FFRF condemns President Trump’s executive orders that virtually overturn the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive mandate by exempting any employer with a religious or “moral” objection from covering contraception.
Under the new rules, which took effect in May, any employer, including publicly traded companies and even universities, can claim a religious objection to providing birth control to employees. The Trump administration claims the twin executive orders “protect religious liberty.”
This is religious liberty run amok, contends FFRF. Religious liberty does not mean the freedom to force dogma upon unwilling employees who themselves do not share these scruples.
“As it has for millennia, religion is being used to oppress women,” notes FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “Employers have no business sticking their noses into intimate health decisions by women workers. It’s outrageous.”
The contraceptive mandate has given more than 55 million women access to birth control without additional co-payments. Under these new regulations, hundreds of thousands will lose that coverage.
One executive order exempts an employer or insurer from covering contraceptive services “based on its sincerely held religious beliefs.” The other exempts employees with “moral convictions” from covering contraception.
“It’s a legal fiction — frankly absurd — that a company can have a religious belief,” says FFRF Co-President Dan Barker.FFRF condemns President Trump’s executive orders that virtually overturn the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive mandate by exempting any employer with a religious or “moral” objection from covering contraception.
Under the new rules, which took effect in May, any employer, including publicly traded companies and even universities, can claim a religious objection to providing birth control to employees. The Trump administration claims the twin executive orders “protect religious liberty.”
This is religious liberty run amok, contends FFRF. Religious liberty does not mean the freedom to force dogma upon unwilling employees who themselves do not share these scruples.
“As it has for millennia, religion is being used to oppress women,” notes FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “Employers have no business sticking their noses into intimate health decisions by women workers. It’s outrageous.”
The contraceptive mandate has given more than 55 million women access to birth control without additional co-payments. Under these new regulations, hundreds of thousands will lose that coverage.
One executive order exempts an employer or insurer from covering contraceptive services “based on its sincerely held religious beliefs.” The other exempts employees with “moral convictions” from covering contraception.
“It’s a legal fiction — frankly absurd — that a company can have a religious belief,” says FFRF Co-President Dan Barker.
