Massachusetts cannot sue the Trump administration for broadening exemptions to the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive mandate, a district court has ruled.
In a March decision, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts concluded that the state lacks standing to sue the federal government and that it could not prove that its residents would be harmed by the expanded exemption.
Under two regulations, issued in October 2017 in the Federal Register, the Trump administration allowed that an expanded group of employers and insurers can object to paying for contraception coverage on religious or moral grounds. The new policy “better balances the government’s interest in promoting coverage for contraceptive and sterilization services with the government’s interests in providing conscience protections for entities with sincerely held moral convictions,” according to the rule issued by the departments of Health & Human Services, Labor, and Treasury.
Judge Nathaniel Gorton
Several state attorneys general sued over the rules, including Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey (D). Ms. Healey argued that the rules violates women’s equal protection rights by restricting their ability to access contraception. The lawsuit also claimed the narrowing of the mandate allowed employers to unconstitutionally impose their religious and moral beliefs on employees.