A federal appellate ruling barring enforcement of the Affordable Care Act’s law’s mandate that employer-provided health insurance cover contraception and related services has deepened the appellate split over that issue.
A divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled on Nov. 8 that Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 claims against the mandate were “very likely to succeed.” The ruling in combined appeals reversed two December 2012 trial court decisions and ordered the lower courts to block the mandate.
