In a move that LGBT legal activists see as “deeply worrisome,” the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday (January 17) said it will review two appeals in which the Trump administration is seeking to make it much easier for employers to exclude health insurance coverage for some medical procedures by saying such procedures violate their religious beliefs or moral conscience.

The cases, Trump v. Pennsylvania and Little Sisters v. Pennsylvania, originated as lawsuits by a wide variety of groups to stop new Trump administration regulations around the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Original ACA rules required most employers to include full coverage for certain preventive care, such as contraception. The ACA excluded churches from the requirement, and a later Supreme Court ruling, in Hobby Lobby v. Burwell, extended that exemption to corporations owned and operated by families.

But the new Trump regulations propose to extend exemptions to “conscience-based,” religious, and moral objections to a larger more wide ranging variety of employers. Read more via Keen News Service