A federal judge has blocked a new Missouri law requiring insurers to offer policies excluding birth control coverage because it conflicts with a federal law mandating such coverage.<?xml:namespace prefix = o />
Judge Audry Fleissig issued a temporary restraining order Friday against the Missouri law. It was enacted in September when the Republican-led Legislature overrode a veto of Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon.
Missouri is one of nine states where lawmakers are forming caucuses they say will focus on preserving religious freedom.
Departing State Representative Mike McGhee (R, Odessa) is organizing Missouri’s caucus. He says one of their functions will be to consult with lawmakers in other states on making sure that the language used in bills doesn’t result in the erosion of religious rights.
IUDs and implants are 20 times more effective at preventing pregnancy than short-term birth control options like the pill, patch, or vaginal ring (pictured).
A federal judge in St. Louis has dismissed a lawsuit challenging the contraception mandate of the federal health care law.
The lawsuit filed on behalf of Frank O'Brien and his company, O'Brien Industrial Holdings LLC of St. Louis, was one of nearly three dozen cases nationally challenging the constitutionality of regulations in the health care law. Among other things, O'Brien, a devout Catholic, claimed the requirement to pay for birth control infringes on his religious beliefs.