#Supreme Court backs religious exemptions from ACA birth control mandate

The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld expanded exemptions to the Affordable Care Act’s birth control mandate for employers with religious or moral objections.

The seven to two vote, with Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayer dissenting, came in the case of Pennsylvania vs. Little Sisters of the Poor, a Roman Catholic religious order for women, who had sued over the act’s requirement that employers provide contraceptives with no co-pay to employees.

The group said the act violated their religious and moral beliefs.

The law, commonly referred to as “Obamacare,” allowed for some exemptions for churches and other religious organizations.

But after President Trump took office, the feds in 2017 issued a rule to allow exemptions for more employers, including publicly traded companies.

Under the administration’s rule, private employers could get an exemption based on a “sincerely held religious belief.”

The Trump administration and the Little Sisters of the Poor had asked the justices to reverse a lower court order that blocked the rules nationwide.