Obamacare provisions: Trump robs free birth control from millions of women

US President Donald Trump's administration annulled today an Obamacare provision that obliged employer health plans to pay for contraception, potentially stripping free birth control from millions of women.

The move extends to all commercial enterprises an exemption already given to religious institutions.

Rights groups erupted in anger and the American Civil Liberties Union threatened a lawsuit, but the White House called it a matter of religious freedom.

The ruling expands "exemptions to protect moral convictions for certain entities and individuals whose health plans are subject to a mandate of contraceptive coverage" under Obamacare, a note published by the US Department of Health and Human Services said.

Millions of American women who had the cost of contraception reimbursed could be affected by the Trump administration's decision, which conservative groups had been seeking since Obamacare began.

Challenges to Obamacare had reached the US Supreme Court, which in 2014 ruled that family-owned private companies could choose not to provide contraceptive coverage to female employees on religious grounds.
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