Supreme Court Rules on Contraceptive Mandate

The U.S. government cannot impose a contraceptive mandate as part of healthcare reform on three closely held corporations because it violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) of 1993, the Supreme Court has ruled.

Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) developed the Women’s Preventive Services Guidelines, which outlines many healthcare services required to be covered. Among the guidelines is a mandate that typically requires nonexempt employers to provide coverage without cost-sharing for all Food and Drug administration-approved contraceptive methods, sterilization procedures and patient education and counseling.

The court concluded that the HHS contraceptive mandate, as applied to these closely held corporations which objected to providing coverage of four contraceptive methods, violated the RFRA.