Federal Judge Strikes Down Religious Exception Rule for Obamacare

The rule is arbitrary ‘because the Agencies identified a problem ... and then proposed a solution that is not rationally connected,’ the judge said.

A man walks in front of an office displaying an Obamacare sign in Miami, Fla., in a file photograph. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

A federal judge on Aug. 13 vacated a rule that lets employers with religious objections opt out of an Affordable Care Act requirement that states the employers’ insurance should cover abortion and contraceptives.

U.S. District Judge Wendy Beetlestone said that the rule, and a similar rule relating to moral objections, both of which were put into place in 2018 during the first Trump administration, were arbitrary and capricious, and in violation of federal law.