After Hobby Lobby, a Way to Cover Birth Control

The Obama administration on Friday announced rules that will allow women to get birth control at no cost, even if they work for employers that don't provide it because of religious objections.

The rules put forward by the Department of Health and Human Services allow religious nonprofits and some for-profit companies to notify the federal government about their religious objections and to request opting out of providing coverage for contraceptives. The agency then will notify health insurance companies, and enrollees in the plans will receive separate payments for contraceptive services. There will be no additional cost to the employer or the employee.

"Women across the country should have access to preventive services, including contraception," HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell said in a statement. "At the same time, we recognize the deeply held views on these issues, and we are committed to securing women's access to important preventive services at no additional cost under the Affordable Care Act, while respecting religious beliefs."

President Barack Obama's health care law came with a requirement that all companies provide health insurance for their employees that would cover birth control options like the pill, intrauterine devices, the ring and Plan B. Accommodations were created for places like houses of worship and religious schools, but various for-profit companies said the mandate also violated their moral and religious beliefs. The owners of Hobby Lobby, a chain store owned by evangelical Christians, took the issue to the Supreme Court, which in 2014 sided with the company and ruled that closely held corporations could be exempted from the birth control provision.

The justices concluded that the government could make other provisions that would offer women access to contraception. Friday's rule attempts to accomplish that.

Some who object to various forms of birth control on religious grounds were unhappy with the regulations, saying they would lead to the distribution of contraception they're opposed to – particularly Plan B, known as the "morning-after pill" – through religious employers.

"The government keeps digging the hole deeper," said Adèle Auxier Keim, legal counsel at The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, the law firm that represented Hobby Lobby in the Supreme Court case. "The government still won't give up on its quest to force nuns and other religious employers to distribute contraceptives."

Reproductive rights groups opposed to the Hobby Lobby ruling countered that the definition of those who could exempt themselves from coverage was too broad. The rules cover for-profit, private companies controlled by five or fewer people.

"The expanded accommodation reverses some of the progress the law has already made on improving access to care achieving health equity for women," Clare Coleman, president and CEO of the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association, said in a statement.

Opponents also stressed their belief that the Supreme Court ruled incorrectly.

"This accommodation shouldn't be necessary in the first place," Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, said in a statement. "A private company shouldn't be able to pick and choose what health care services they provide to their employees because they are women, LGBT, or any other class of people. The Supreme Court was wrong to allow companies to discriminate against their employees this way, and Congress needs to pass legislation to fix it."

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said the court's ruling was "completely unacceptable," and that she was committed to continuing to fight it.

"Already, we've seen employers across the country deny women access to health insurance benefits they have earned, and threaten a worker's right to make their own autonomous decisions about everything from vaccinations to HIV treatment," she said.