Attorney General Becerra Asks Court to Hold Up Unlawful Trump Administration Rollback of Birth Control Rule

To date, over 62 million women have benefited from the Affordable Care Act’s cost-free birth control benefit, including over 7 million in California

SACRAMENTO – California Attorney General Xavier Becerra today filed a petition for a nationwide injunction to halt the Trump-Pence Administration’s rules that take away Americans' access to birth control. The rules give corporations and employers the power to deny women their cost-free birth control coverage under the Affordable Care Act.

“A woman’s birth control and health decisions should be made by a woman in consultation with her doctor – not by her employer and not by politicians,” said Attorney General Becerra. “These backwards rules will deny millions of women across the United States access to healthcare, unconstitutionally permitting discrimination against women. The Affordable Care Act protects women’s access to healthcare. We will not stand by while the Trump Administration continues to disregard the rule of law.”

In early October, Attorney General Becerra filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, challenging the Trump Administration’s federal contraceptive rules that allow employers to discriminate against female employees. Just last week, the Attorneys General of Delaware, Maryland, New York and Virginia joined the lawsuit. The action today seeks an immediate end to the Administration’s dangerous actions against a women’s right to birth control. 

A copy of the injunction is attached to the electronic version of this release at oag.ca.gov.