Supreme Court ruling should clear the way to free birth control for women with religious employers
An evenly divided Supreme Court skirted the major legal questions arising from a dispute over President Obama’s healthcare program and instead announced a compromise Monday designed to clear the way for women working for religious organizations to receive the free birth control promised under the Affordable Care Act.
In a short, unanimous decision, the justices said that the Catholic charities who filed the suits and the Obama administration – at the high court’s strong urging — had agreed in recent weeks that the female workers may “receive cost-free contraceptive coverage” without infringing on the religious rights of the church-based employers.