Companies Opposed to Paying for Birth Control: Donald Trump

May 31, 2017 11:24 AM EDT

President Donald Trump’s administration has drafted a rule that could allow religious employers to deny covering their employees birth control in their health insurance plans, the New York Times reported.

“We haven’t seen the rule yet, so we don’t know exactly what they’re doing,” Gretchen Borchelt, the vice president for reproductive rights and health at the National Women’s Law Center, told Motto in a phone interview on Tuesday. “But our concern is that it will be some sort of rule to give bosses the ability to use their religious beliefs to take birth control coverage away from women.”

The Trump rule, which Borchelt said the NWLC plans to fight in court once formally announced, would target a mandate in the Affordable Care Act that requires all employers to provide birth control, at no cost, to their employees. Democrats claimed in the Times that the mandate has benefitted over 50 million women.

But the mandate has been the focus of a spate of lawsuits, which argue that it violates the religious freedoms of business owners. While many of the challengers were religious organizations, many others were secularly-oriented businesses with leaders personally opposed to the order based on their individual religious beliefs. Craft store chain Hobby Lobby filed a lawsuit against the mandate, which made its way to the Supreme Court. In 2014, the nation’s high court ruled 5-4 in favor of Hobby Lobby and said that “closely held” religious for-profit companies had a right to refuse to pay for contraceptive coverage for their employees. (Most private companies are categorized as “closely held” companies, meaning that they are controlled and operated by a small group of shareholders. Over 90% of U.S. businesses are categorized as “closely held” and most are family businesses, according to Inc.)

“A woman deserves birth control no matter where she works. A boss’ religious beliefs shouldn’t be able to override that benefit,” Borchelt said. “They have been very public on the other side. It’s hard to find an individual willing to speak out because their jobs are at risk from speaking out publicly against their company. But we know those women are out there, we hear from them every day.”

And there’s a broad scope of the type of companies that have opposed the mandate in the past (the Daily Beast first outlined a list of 82 companies challenging the mandate in 2014).

Based on an up-to-date database from Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and a list published by the National Organization of Women in 2014, here are the secular companies that previously filed lawsuits that argued they shouldn’t be required to pay for birth control for their employees on religious grounds. Manufacturing was the most represented industry on the list, which also includes a handful of law firms, car dealerships and an organic food company. Click on the company name to see its lawsuit.)

American MFG Co, pump manufacturing company

American Pulverizer Company, systems manufacturer

Annex Medical, medical device manufacturer

Autocam Corp, precision components manufacturer

Barron Industries, metalcasting manufacturer

Beckwith Electric Co, electric company

Bick Holdings, Inc, provides information technology services

Cherry Creek Mortgage Co, mortgage company

Conestoga Wood Specialities Corp, wood products manufacturer

Continuum Health Partnership/Management, operates assisted living facilities

Doboszenski & Sons, excavation company

Dunstone Co., heat shrinkable polyester tape manufacturer