California challenges Trump’s rollback of birth control mandate

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra (D) on Friday filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s rollback of an Obama-era policy that required employers include birth control coverage in their health insurance plans.

“Donald Trump wants businesses and corporations to control family planning decisions rather than a woman in consultation with her doctor. These anti-women’s health regulations prove once again that the Trump administration is willing to trample on people’s rights,” Becerra said in a statement. 

{mosads}“What group of Americans will they target next? Will they allow businesses to deny you cancer treatment? Will they exclude you from insurance coverage because of a pre-existing health condition? The California Department of Justice will fight to protect every woman’s right to healthcare, including reproductive healthcare. We’ll see the Trump administration in court,” he continued. 

The lawsuit comes after the White House announced that all employers would no longer have to provide birth control to employees under their health insurance plans if the employers have religious objections to the use of contraceptives. For-profit or nonprofit employers can be exempted based on religious or moral objections. 

The original ObamaCare mandate required that employers offer health insurance that covers birth control without a co-pay, with limited exemptions for houses of worship and some companies.

Employers will not have to file anything with the government to stop offering the birth control coverage; they simply have to notify their employees of the decision, according to Health and Human Services officials.