State Bills Challenge Federal Mandate On Contraceptive Coverage

AP reports today that bills have recently been introduced into state legislatures in Idaho, Missouri and Arizona that would allow insurance companies or businesses, religious or secular, to refuse to cover contraception, abortion and sterilization in their health insurance policies if they have moral objections to offering the coverage. The bills attempt to challenge the Obama administration's recent mandate regarding coverage of contraceptive services by health care plans. It is likely that the federal government would sue to block effectiveness of the state laws if they pass.