UPDATE 1-U.S. Supreme Court to hear Trump appeal in Obamacare contraception fight

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday took up an appeal by President Donald Trump's administration seeking to enforce new federal rules allowing employers to obtain religious exemptions from an Obamacare requirement that health insurance that they provide to employees pays for women's birth control. At issue is a challenge by the states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey to the administration's 2018 rule that permits broad religious and moral exemptions to the Affordable Care Act's contraception mandate, expanding accommodations already allowed under the 2010 law dubbed Obamacare. The administration has asked the Supreme Court to reverse a nationwide injunction issued by a lower court blocking the rule from taking effect.

The administration was joined by the Little Sisters of the Poor, an Roman Catholic order of nuns that is one of the groups seeking an exemption for its employees. Arguments in the case are likely to be in April with a ruling due by the end of June.

The Obamacare contraceptive mandate requires that employer-provided health insurance include coverage for birth control with no co-payment. Previously, many employer-provided insurance policies did not offer this coverage. The blocked Trump rule would allow any nonprofit or for-profit employer, including publicly held companies, to seek an exemption on religious grounds. A moral objection can be made by nonprofits and companies that are not publicly traded.

The administration's rule also applies to religiously affiliated universities that provide health insurance to students. The Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last year upheld a nationwide injunction issued by a district court judge in the lawsuit by New Jersey and Pennsylvania, blocking implementation of the rule.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)