Speaker 1: Well, now it's time for our daily Bloomberg Law Brief,
Speaker 1: exploring legal issues in the news, and it's brought to
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Speaker 1: Best discuss how the Trump administrations move to let employers
Speaker 1: opt out of providing health insurance that covers birth control.
Speaker 1: They speak with Ash McGovern and Legislative and Policy director
Speaker 1: at the Center for Gender and Sexuality Law at Columbia
Speaker 1: Law School, and Michael sell Me, professor at George Washington
Speaker 1: University Law School. The Trump administration has been issuing orders
Speaker 1: to try to provide more accommodations for religious people and
Speaker 1: the religious beliefs. What exactly did Attorney General Sessions do
Speaker 1: here and how broad is it? Well, the the initiatives
Speaker 1: that were announced on Friday are very broad. Uh. The
Speaker 1: one that's gotten the most attention is obviously the contraception
Speaker 1: mandate and the expansion of the current exemptions under the
Speaker 1: Affordable Care Act. What the Trump administration is doing, and
Speaker 1: this is likely to spill over into many other areas
Speaker 1: as well, But which respect of this particular issue. They
Speaker 1: are allowing any corporate entity, any employer, to claim a
Speaker 1: religious exemption under the Affordable Care Acts so that they
Speaker 1: do not have to provide contraception as part of their
Speaker 1: insurance plan. Currently, under the current law, religious entities, you know, churches,
Speaker 1: are exempt, and then nonprofit organizations and closely held corporations
Speaker 1: also have a workaround in that they do not have
Speaker 1: to provide the contraception directly, but instead they would have
Speaker 1: to provide it through insurance companies. That work around would
Speaker 1: now be optional under the current plan under the Trump administration,
Speaker 1: proposal West not a proposal wanted to affect immediately, but
Speaker 1: they are taking comments now. It's an interim final rule
Speaker 1: and the exemption would be available to any other employer
Speaker 1: who was covered by the mandate. ASH. Let's talk about
Speaker 1: the federal government not prosecuting religious organizations for discrimination and
Speaker 1: the hiring and firing of employees, and does that extend
Speaker 1: now to private businesses? Sure? So, on Friday there was
Speaker 1: both a contraceptive roles and then there was a second
Speaker 1: memo that came out from the Department of Justice, which
Speaker 1: essentially issued twelve Principles of Federal Religious Freedom and Religious
Speaker 1: Liberty that all federal agents now must follow. I'm considering
Speaker 1: any program, rule or guidance, and what the Department of
Speaker 1: Justice is really trying to do and the Trump administration
Speaker 1: has been trying to do, is to train enforcements of
Speaker 1: non discrimination and civil rights protection as discrimination against religious
Speaker 1: rights and groups. And what's both concerning about this guidance
Speaker 1: is the fact that it's trying to give religious liberty
Speaker 1: supremacy over other co equal fundamental rights. It's creating a
Speaker 1: more dangerous situations for already vulnerable communities like women, people
Speaker 1: of color, and LGBT communities, while elevating and sort of
Speaker 1: tipping the sum on the scale towards religious liberty at
Speaker 1: the extent of other important fundamental rights in my constitution.
Speaker 1: That's Ash McGovern and Legislative and Policy director at the
Speaker 1: Center for Gender and Sexuality Law at Columbia Law School,
Speaker 1: and Michael sell Me, professor of law at George Washington
Speaker 1: University Law School, speaking with Bloomberg, Laho Studing Grosso and
Speaker 1: Michael Best. You can listen to Bloomberg Law weekdays at
Speaker 1: one pm Wall Street time here on Bloomberg Radio