In a one-two punch elating religious conservatives, US President Donald Trump’s administration is allowing more employers to opt out of no-cost birth control for workers and issuing sweeping religious freedom directions that could override many anti-discrimination protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people and others.
At a time when Trump finds himself embattled on many fronts, the two directives — issued almost simultaneously on Friday — demonstrated the president’s eagerness to retain the loyalty of social conservatives who make up a key part of his base.
“President Trump is demonstrating his commitment to undoing the anti-faith policies of the previous administration and restoring true religious freedom,” Family Research Council president Tony Perkins said.
Liberal advocacy groups, including those supporting LGBT and reproductive rights, were outraged.
“The Trump administration is saying to employers: ‘If you want to discriminate, we have your back,’” National Women’s Law Center president Fatima Goss Graves said.
Her organization is among several that are planning to challenge the birth control rollback in court. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed such a lawsuit less than three hours after the rules were issued.
“The Trump administration is forcing women to pay for their boss’ religious beliefs,” ACLU senior staff attorney Brigitte Amiri said. “We’re filing this lawsuit because the federal government cannot authorize discrimination against women in the name of religion or otherwise.”
The US Democratic attorneys general of California and Massachusetts filed similar suits later on Friday.
Both directives had been in the works for months, with activists on both sides of a culture war on edge about the timing and the details.
The religious liberty directive, issued by US Attorney General Jeff Sessions, instructs federal agencies to do as much as possible to accommodate those who claim their religious freedoms are being violated.
The guidance effectively lifts a burden from religious objectors to prove that their beliefs about marriage or other topics that affect various actions are sincerely held.
“Except in the narrowest circumstances, no one should be forced to choose between living out his or her faith and complying with the law,” Sessions wrote.
In what is likely to be one of the more contested aspects of the document, the US Department of Justice said that religious organizations can hire workers based on religious beliefs and an employee’s willingness “to adhere to a code of conduct.”
Many conservative Christian schools and faith-based agencies require employees to adhere to moral codes that ban sex outside marriage and same-sex relationships, among other behavior.
The conservative Christian law firm Alliance Defending Freedom called it “a great day for religious freedom.”
However, JoDee Winterhof of the national LGBT rights group Human Rights Campaign depicted the two directives as “an all-out assault, on women, LGBT people and others” as the administration fulfilled a “wish list” of the religious right.
The new policy on contraception, issued by the US Department of Health and Human Services, allows more categories of employers, including publicly traded companies, to opt out of providing no-cost birth control to women by claiming religious or moral objections — another step in rolling back former US president Barack Obama’s healthcare law that required most companies to cover birth control at no additional cost.
Employers with religious or moral qualms would also be able to cover some birth control methods, and not others.
Experts said that could interfere with efforts to promote modern long-acting implantable contraceptives, such as intrauterine devices, which are more expensive.
US House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said the birth control rollback was despicable.
“This administration’s contempt for women reaches a new low with this appalling decision to enable employers and health plans to deny women basic coverage for contraception,” she said.
However, on the US Republican side House Speaker Paul Ryan welcomed the decision, calling it “a landmark day for religious liberty.”
The new policy took effect on Friday, but its impact will not be known immediately and might not be dramatic.
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