Supreme Court says Trump administration can let religious employers deny birth control coverage under Obamacare

Supreme Court says Trump administration can let religious employers deny birth control coverage under Obamacare

Demonstrators gather outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, U.S., July 8, 2020.

Jonathan Ernst | Reuters

The Supreme Court on Wednesday voted 7-2 to uphold Trump administration rules to allow employers with sincere moral or religious objections to deny employees access to free contraceptive coverage. 

The rules broadened a carve-out to the contraceptive coverage mandate included in the Affordable Care Act, the health-care overhaul commonly known as Obamacare. According to government estimates, the religious exemption would lead to possibly as many 125,000 women losing their coverage. 

Justice Clarence Thomas, who authored the majority opinion, wrote that the Trump administration "had the authority to provide exemptions from the regulatory contraceptive requirements for employers with religious and conscientious objections."

"The only question we face today is what the plain language of the statute authorizes," Thomas wrote. "And the plain language of the statute clearly allows the Departments to create the preventive care standards as well as the religious and moral exemptions."

Thomas' opinion was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh. Justice Elena Kagan wrote separately to explain her vote with the majority, and was joined by Justice Stephen Breyer. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor dissented.

The Supreme Court