NEW YORK _ The Trump administration's plan to roll back a requirement for employers to include birth control in their health insurance plans is an unconstitutional endorsement of religion, a group of 19 Democratic state attorneys general said.
Allowing employers with religious or moral objections to contraception to block their employees from receiving coverage violates the constitutional separation of church and state and encourages illegal workplace discrimination against women, the states said in a brief filed Tuesday in federal court in Philadelphia. More than 55 million women in the U.S. have access to birth control with no out-of-pocket costs through the Affordable Care Act, the states said.
President Donald Trump has ratcheted up America's culture war since his election victory, targeting access to contraception and boosting the rights of religious employers. Several lawsuit were filed against the proposed contraception rules, including a suits by the American Civil Liberties Union and Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey. Healey is leading the group that filed the brief is Pennsylvania's lawsuit, after the judge in that case asked for interested parties to weigh in.
