Trump Rolls Back Part Of Obama’s Birth Control Mandate To End ‘Attacks On Religious Liberty’

I am VERY pro birth control.

Why?

Because I’m very anti-abortion.

You can preach abstinence all you want… I think it’s naive to think people who do not feel a religious or moral obligation to stay abstinent will do so.

Additionally, married couples may not be ready to have a child, (or another child) as well. Should THEY stay abstinent?

Anyway…. I’m very pro birth control…but I think if you’re a “big girl” enough to have sex, you’re a “big girl” enough to buy your own birth control. It’s not that expensive.  An app called Nurx even offers the pill at $15 a month with no prescription provided and free shipping….

If you can’t afford $15 a month for birth control, you should have other priorities first…

Today, the White House announced they will be rolling back parts of Obama’s birth control mandate.

According to this:

The Trump administration announced Friday that it will exempt employers from providing insurance coverage for contraception if it conflicts with their religious or moral beliefs, scaling back a rule created under the Obama administration.

 

The interim final rule was an outgrowth of Obamacare, which is written to give discretion to the Department of Health and Human Services to issue rules about what constitutes women’s preventive care, meaning that different administrations can reverse or change the rules.

 

The new rules allow any employer to be exempt from the mandate “based on its sincerely held religious beliefs” or on “moral convictions.” Employers who decide not to provide coverage do not need to inform the federal government but would need to tell their employees about their decision.

 

The rule change was intended to provide “relief to those who have been under the thumb of the federal government and had their religious freedom violated” and end “attacks on religious liberty and protects religious freedom for everyone,” Roger Severino, director for the Office of Civil Rights at HHS, said in a phone call.

 

The new rule says, “Application of the mandate to entities with sincerely held religious objections to it does not serve a compelling governmental interest.”

 

The Obama administration had issued rules saying that employers must cover all forms of contraception, from birth control pills to emergency contraception, without any co-pay to patients. The obligation had exemptions for houses of worship but not for companies that had closely held religious beliefs. More than 55 million women relied on the provision, the Obama administration had said.

 

Businesses with religious owners were concerned about paying for access to emergency contraception and intrauterine devices, or IUDs, which they liken to an abortion. The mandate was attacked by critics as an assault on religious liberty, and in the case Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, the Supreme Court held that as written, it violated the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993. The Obama administration was steered by the justices to come up with a more narrowly tailored rule, which has now been revised by the Trump administration.

 

“This rule is consistent with the Supreme Court order,” Severino said. “The rule provides relief for those who qualify and seek it. It does not provide relief for those who do not seek it.”

I always thought it was SO weird that birth control is the ONE kind of drug Obama thinks should not have ANY SORT of copay… when it’s also one of the only drugs people take ENTIRELY BY CHOICE.

People will SURELY complain that organizations will claim a “religious objection” even though they don’t really have one.

Personally, I don’t think any employer should be forced to fully cover birth control ANYWAY.