On December 6, 2017, Women Lawyers on Guard joined 16 professional, labor, and student associations in support of motion for a preliminary injunction in California v. Hargan to halt implementation of the Trump administration’s Religious Exemption Rule and the Moral Exception Rule (the “Rules”), and we are pleased to report that the motion was granted! These Rules allow employers to assert conscience-based objections to the contraceptive mandate provided under the Women’s Health Amendment to the Affordable Care Act. If implemented, the Rules could cause hundreds of thousands of women to lose contraceptive coverage. The court referenced our brief to illustrate the harm caused by a potentially large number of employers opting out of providing their employees’ coverage under the rules.
The amicus brief described how seamless, no-cost contraception is essential to women’s equality and advancement. The brief focused on the irreparable harm that would result from the implementation of the Rules, and the public interest in granting the injunction. The brief discussed the number of women who might lose access to contraception under the Rules and described the high number of women who use contraception and whose employers will likely to refuse contraceptive coverage under the Rules. The brief detailed the nearly half a million women working at hospitals, the tens of thousands of college students, the thousands of employees of religiously affiliated non-profits, and the hundreds of thousands of employees of non-religiously affiliated private employers who may lose coverage because of these Rules.
