NRPLUS MEMBER ARTICLE T his summer, the Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration had the authority to exempt religious groups from the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive mandate. The mandate, first instituted by President Barack Obama’s Health and Human Services (HHS) Department, required nearly all employers to cover birth control and abortion-inducing drugs in their health-insurance plans, regardless of religious or conscience objections.

When Donald Trump took office, his administration moved to soften the mandate, offering broader exceptions that allowed employers to avoid subsidizing these drugs if their religious beliefs or conscience forbid them from doing so. Among the groups that benefited from these exemptions …