By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is allowing more employers to opt out of providing no-cost birth control to women for religious and moral reasons.
The administration has issued a long-expected revision to Obama-era rules. The rules require most companies to provide birth control as preventive care for women, at no additional cost. Under the Affordable Care Act, preventive services are supposed to be free of charge to employees and their dependents.
The Trump administration’s revision issued Friday expands a religious exemption that previously applied to houses of worship, religiously affiliated nonprofit groups, and closely-held private companies.
The share of women employees paying their own money for birth control pills has plunged to under 4 percent, from 21 percent, since contraception became a covered preventive health benefit, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
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