Court Blocks Trump Administration Restrictions on Birth Control – The New York Times

The Trump administration argued that the states had not identified anyone who had lost coverage under the rules. Judge Beetlestone replied: “There is no need to wait for the ax to fall before an injunction is appropriate, particularly where defendants have estimated that it is about to fall on thousands of women — and, as a corollary, on the states.”

Judge Beetlestone said the final rules were likely to have harsh consequences: “numerous citizens losing contraceptive coverage, resulting in significant, direct and proprietary harm to the states in the form of increased use of state-funded contraceptive services, as well as increased costs associated with unintended pregnancies.”

Her decision was issued less than 24 hours after Judge Haywood S. Gilliam Jr. of the Federal District Court in Oakland, Calif., granted a request by 13 states and the District of Columbia to block the rules in their jurisdictions.

“Women who lose their entitlement to cost-free contraceptives are less likely to use an effective method, or any method at all — resulting in unintended pregnancies,” Judge Gilliam said. Moreover, he said, many of the women are likely to “turn to state programs to obtain no-cost contraceptives, at significant cost to the states.”

Josh Shapiro, the attorney general of Pennsylvania, who filed the lawsuit there, welcomed the decision by Judge Beetlestone.