Trump’s effort to roll out a restrictive birth control policy has been blocked in 13 states, but some women are still at risk of losing cost-free birth control access

• On Sunday, a federal judge partially blocked Trump administration rules that allow some employers to drop birth control coverage for religious or moral reasons, Reuters reported.
• The rules were blocked from taking effect in California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Virginia, and the District of Columbia.
• In his order, the judge wrote that “women in other states are at risk of losing access to cost-free contraceptives when the final rules take effect.”
• But if employers choose to stop offering birth control coverage, they’re required to inform their employees about that change.

On Sunday, a federal judge in California partially blocked Trump administration rules that would allow some employers to drop birth control coverage for moral or religious reasons.

A group of 14 attorneys general had requested a nationwide injunction against the rules, but Judge Haywood S. Gilliam Jr. limited the injunction only to the states who challenged the rules, Reuters reported. Gilliam’s preliminary injunction blocks the rules from taking effect in the District of Columbia and 13 states (California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Virginia), the New York Times reported Sunday.

Under the Obama administration, FDA-approved birth control was defined as a preventive service that was required to be covered at no cost. This is sometimes called the “birth control mandate.”

Initially, religious houses of worship were the only employers that were fully exempt for the birth control mandate, but in October 2017, the Trump administration released two “interim final rules” that opened up the exemption option to employers who had religious or moral objections to providing birth control coverage. After those interim rules were blocked by federal courts, the Trump administration released revised but similar rules in November 2018.

Read more: 4 ways to get birth control that’s affordable – or even free

The first rule allows employers and institutes of higher education to stop providing birth control coverage on the basis of religious beliefs; the second allows them to do so if they have moral objections. (There are some exceptions: Government entities aren’t eligible to use either rule to stop providing birth control coverage, and publicly-traded businesses can’t use the moral exemption, though they can use the religious one).

These rules were set to go into effect on January 14, but Gilliam’s order has blocked them in those 13 states and in Washington, D.C.

“The law couldn’t be more clear – employers have no business interfering in women’s healthcare decisions,” California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, who led the case, said in a statement Sunday. “Today’s court ruling stops another attempt by the Trump Administration to trample on women’s access to basic reproductive care.”

Caitlin Oakley, a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services (the lead defendant in the case, according to the New York Times), told INSIDER that the final rules “affirm the Trump Administration’s commitment to upholding the freedoms afforded all Americans under our Constitution.”

“No American should be forced to violate his or her own conscience in order to abide by the laws and regulations governing our healthcare system,” she added.

The judge wrote that women living in other states are “at risk of losing access to” cost-free birth control

It appears that people living in the states not covered by the injunction may now lose access to free birth coverage.

“The Court fully recognizes that limiting the scope of this injunction to the plaintiff states means that women in other states are at risk of losing access to cost-free contraceptives when the final rules take effect,” Judge Gilliam wrote in the order.

Read more: Scientists are testing a new male birth control gel, and some people are furious that it seems more ‘simple and convenient’ than female options

The Guttmacher Institute, a sexual and reproductive health research organization, also voiced concern for those living outside the 13 states.

“We remain concerned about the rules’ impact in states not covered by this injunction,” the organization tweeted on Sunday.

But a forthcoming court ruling could change things.

A federal court in Pennsylvania is also expected to make a decision about the Trump administration’s rules, according to the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC).

“We’re watching for another decision today on the rules from a federal court in Pennsylvania,” the NWLC tweeted Monday.

On Twitter, Brigitte Amiri, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, expressed hope that the Pennsylvania court will extend the injunction to all states.

“Fingers crossed for the PA district court & hopefully it will issue a nationwide injunction,” she tweeted Monday.

But employers have to make it clear if birth control coverage is going to change

Under the new rules, employers who want to stop providing birth control coverage are “not required to file notices” about their decision, an HHS fact sheet said.

But if an employer wants to exclude all or some birth control benefits from its health plans, they have to make that clear in documentation provided to employees, according to the full text of both rules.

Read more: There are 17 different types of birth control – here’s how to pick the best one for you

“For any kind of coverage that you have, if your employer is going to be taking it away, you have a right to be notified and you should get notified,” Mara Gandal-Powers, director of birth control access and senior counsel for reproductive rights and health at the NWLC, told INSIDER in November, when the Trump administration announced the final rules. “If you’re worried about your employer and this potentially impacting you, really pay attention to the letters or the notices [employers provide], because if it’s going to happen, you will get a notice.”

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