Biden signs executive order designed to protect access to contraception
US President Joe Biden signed an executive order Friday designed to strengthen and protect access to contraception. Biden signed the order nearly one year after the Supreme Court handed down its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned the landmark reproductive rights case Roe v. Wade. Since then, some states in the [...]
A US federal judge in Texas Thursday ruled that private health insurance companies are not required to cover contraceptives, STD screenings or HIV prevention treatment (pre-exposure prophylaxis or PrEP). The court held that the preventative care minimum of the 2010 Affordable Care Act (ACA) violated the claimant’s rights under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. This [...]
The UN Must Combat Authoritarian Power Grabs Under the Guise of Anti-Corruption Campaigns
To what extent can the United Nations (UN) prevent and control so-called anti-corruption campaigns that serve only to bolster the power of authoritarian regimes? As authoritarian power spreads, this is an increasingly urgent question. If the UN does not take measures to track and curtail illegitimate anti-corruption campaigns, it is the people whom these campaigns [...]
US appeals court: religious organizations do not have to provide gender-affirming medical care
The US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit Friday issued a permanent injunction against the enforcement of Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which would require medical providers to provide gender-affirming medical services to transgender individuals. Two groups of Catholic employers and health care providers, the Religious Sisters of Mercy and the [...]
Texas doctors may challenge transgender discrimination prohibition as a class, judge rules
The US District Court for the Nothern District of Texas Friday granted class certification to two Texas doctors in their lawsuit challenging the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) announcement that Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) bans discrimination in healthcare against transgender Americans. The ruling is the latest development in the ongoing [...]
The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Department of Labor (DOL) and Department of the Treasury (Treasury) Thursday jointly announced new guidelines intended to clarify protections for birth control coverage from both businesses and health insurance providers under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The guidance clearly states that despite recent changes in US [...]
President Biden signs executive order in attempt to safeguard access to abortion and contraception
US President Joe Biden has signed an executive order on abortion to ease access to medical services for abortion and contraceptives in response to the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that eliminated the constitutional right to an abortion provided by Roe v. Wade. President Biden stated during a press conference, [...]
US Supreme Court bars emotional distress damages under Affordable Care Act
The US Supreme Court Thursday ruled Thursday that damages for emotional distress are not recoverable in a private lawsuit to enforce either the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 or the Affordable Care Act. This decision clarifies what damages are available to individuals who sue under federal anti-discrimination statutes. Plaintiff Jane Cummings is legally blind and was [...]
Two doctors joined two parents on behalf of their minor children to file a complaint Tuesday in federal court against the governor and the district attorneys of Alabama, Shelby County, and Jefferson County, to block Alabama’s Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act (“VCCPA”) from going into effect on May 8, 2022. The VCCPA, signed into [...]
Biden issues executive order strengthening access to affordable healthcare
US President Joe Biden Tuesday issued an executive order to improve citizens’ access to healthcare by expanding the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and Medicaid in furtherance of a similar order last year. In January 2021, Biden signed Executive Order 14009 (Strengthening Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act). The order made it the Biden administration’s policy [...]
