[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 221 (Thursday, November 15, 2018)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 57592-57631]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-24514]



[[Page 57591]]

Vol. 83

Thursday,

No. 221

November 15, 2018

Part III





Department of the Treasury





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Internal Revenue Service





Department of Labor





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Employee Benefits Security Administration





Department of Health and Human Services





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26 CFR Part 54

29 CFR Part 2590

45 CFR Part 147





Moral Exemptions and Accommodations for Coverage of Certain Preventive 
Services Under the Affordable Care Act; Final Rule

  Federal Register / Vol. 83 , No. 221 / Thursday, November 15, 2018 / 
Rules and Regulations  

[[Page 57592]]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

Internal Revenue Service

26 CFR Part 54

[TD-9841]
RIN 1545-BN91

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employee Benefits Security Administration

29 CFR Part 2590

RIN 1210-AB84

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

45 CFR Part 147

[CMS-9925-F]
RIN 0938-AT46


Moral Exemptions and Accommodations for Coverage of Certain 
Preventive Services Under the Affordable Care Act

AGENCY: Internal Revenue Service, Department of the Treasury; Employee 
Benefits Security Administration, Department of Labor; and Centers for 
Medicare & Medicaid Services, Department of Health and Human Services.

ACTION: Final rules.

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SUMMARY: These rules finalize, with changes based on public comments, 
the interim final rules issued in the Federal Register on October 13, 
2017 concerning moral exemptions and accommodations regarding coverage 
of certain preventive services. These rules finalize expanded 
exemptions to protect moral beliefs for certain entities and 
individuals whose health plans are subject to a mandate of 
contraceptive coverage through guidance issued pursuant to the Patient 
Protection and Affordable Care Act. These rules do not alter the 
discretion of the Health Resources and Services Administration, a 
component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to 
maintain the guidelines requiring contraceptive coverage where no 
regulatorily recognized objection exists. These rules also leave in 
place an optional ``accommodation'' process for certain exempt entities 
that wish to use it voluntarily. These rules do not alter multiple 
other federal programs that provide free or subsidized contraceptives 
for women at risk of unintended pregnancy.

DATES: Effective date: These regulations are effective on January 14, 
2019.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Jeff Wu at (301) 492-4305 or [email protected] for the Centers 
for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Department of Health and Human 
Services (HHS).
Amber Rivers or Matthew Litton at (202) 693-8335 for Employee Benefits 
Security Administration (EBSA), Department of Labor (DOL).
William Fischer at (202) 317-5500 for Internal Revenue Service, 
Department of the Treasury.
    Customer Service Information: Individuals interested in obtaining 
information from the Department of Labor concerning employment-based 
health coverage laws may call the EBSA Toll-Free Hotline at 1-866-444-
EBSA (3272) or visit DOL's website (www.dol.gov/ebsa). Information from 
HHS on private health insurance coverage can be found on CMS's website 
(www.cms.gov/cciio), and information on health care reform can be found 
at www.HealthCare.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Table of Contents

I. Executive Summary and Background
    A. Executive Summary
    1. Purpose
    2. Summary of the Major Provisions
    3. Summary of Costs, Savings and Benefits of the Major 
Provisions
    B. Background
II. Overview of the Final Rules and Public Comments
    A. Moral Exemptions and Accommodation in General
    1. The Departments' Authority to Mandate Coverage or Provide 
Exemptions
    2. Congress's History of Protecting Moral Convictions
    a. The Church Amendments' Protection of Moral Convictions
    b. Court Precedents Relevant to These Expanded Exemptions
    c. Conscience Protections in Other Federal and State Contexts
    d. Founding Principles
    e. Executive Orders Relevant to These Expanded Exemptions
    f. Litigation Concerning the Mandate
    3. Whether Moral Exemptions Should Exist, and Whom They Should 
Cover
    4. The Departments' Rebalancing of Government Interests
    5. Burdens on Third Parties
    6. Interim Final Rulemaking
    7. Health Effects of Contraception and Pregnancy
    8. Health and Equality Effects of Contraceptive Coverage 
Mandates
    9. Other General Comments
    B. Text of the Final Rules
    1. Restatement of Statutory Requirements of Section 2713(a) and 
(a)(4) of the PHS Act (26 CFR 54.9815-2713(a)(1) and (a)(1)(iv), 29 
CFR 2590.715-2713(a)(1) and (a)(1)(iv), and 45 CFR 147.130(a)(1) and 
(a)(1)(iv)).
    2. Exemption for Objecting Entities Based on Moral Convictions 
(45 CFR 147.133(a))
    3. Exemption for Certain Plan Sponsors (45 CFR 147.133(a)(1)(i))
    a. Plan sponsors in general (45 CFR 147.133(a)(1)(i) prefatory 
text)
    b. Nonprofit organizations (45 CFR 147.133(a)(1)(i)(A))
    c. For-Profit Entities (45 CFR 147.133(a)(1)(i)(B))
    4. Institutions of Higher Education (45 CFR 147.133(a)(1)(ii))
    5. Health Insurance Issuers (45 CFR 147.133(a)(1)(iii))
    6. Description of the Moral Objection (45 CFR 147.133(a)(2))
    7. Individuals (45 CFR 147.133(b))
    8. Accommodation (45 CFR 147.131, 26 CFR 54.9815-2713A, 29 CFR 
2590.715-2713A)
    9. Definition of Contraceptives for the Purpose of These Final 
Rules
    10. Severability
    C. Other Public Comments
    1. Items Approved as Contraceptives But Used to Treat Existing 
Conditions
    2. Comments Concerning Regulatory Impact
III. Economic Impact and Paperwork Burden
    A. Executive Orders 12866 and 13563--Department of HHS and 
Department of Labor
    1. Need for Regulatory Action
    2. Anticipated Effects
    B. Special Analyses--Department of the Treasury
    C. Regulatory Flexibility Act
    D. Paperwork Reduction Act--Department of Health and Human 
Services
    E. Paperwork Reduction Act--Department of Labor
    F. Regulatory Reform Executive Orders 13765, 13771 and 13777
    G. Unfunded Mandates Reform Act
    H. Federalism
IV. Statutory Authority

I. Executive Summary and Background

A. Executive Summary

1. Purpose
    The primary purpose of these final rules is to finalize, with 
changes in response to public comments, the interim final regulations 
with requests for comments (IFCs) published in the Federal Register on 
October 13, 2017 (82 FR 47838), ``Moral Exemptions and Accommodations 
for Coverage of Certain Preventive Services Under the Affordable Care 
Act'' (the Moral IFC). The rules are necessary to protect sincerely 
held moral objections of certain entities and individuals. The rules, 
thus, minimize the burdens imposed on their moral beliefs, with regard 
to the discretionary requirement that health plans cover certain 
contraceptive services with no cost-sharing, which was created by HHS 
through guidance promulgated by the Health Resources and Services

[[Page 57593]]

Administration (HRSA), pursuant to authority granted by the ACA in 
section 2713(a)(4) of the Public Health Service Act. In addition, the 
rules finalize references to these moral exemptions in the previously 
created accommodation process that permit entities with certain 
objections voluntarily to continue to object while the persons covered 
in their plans receive contraceptive coverage or payments arranged by 
their issuers or third party administrators. The rules do not remove 
the contraceptive coverage requirement generally from HRSA's 
guidelines. The changes to the rules being finalized will ensure 
clarity in implementation of the moral exemptions so that proper 
respect is afforded to sincerely held moral convictions in rules 
governing this area of health insurance and coverage, with minimal 
impact on HRSA's decision to otherwise require contraceptive coverage.
2. Summary of the Major Provisions
a. Moral Exemptions
    These rules finalize exemptions provided in the Moral IFC for the 
group health plans and health insurance coverage of various entities 
and individuals with sincerely held moral convictions opposed to 
coverage of some or all contraceptive or sterilization methods 
encompassed by HRSA's guidelines. As in the Moral IFC, the exemptions 
include plan sponsors that are nonprofit organization plan sponsors or 
for-profit entities that have no publicly traded ownership interests 
(defined as any class of common equity securities required to be 
registered under section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934). 
The exemptions also continue to include institutions of higher 
education in their arrangement of student health insurance coverage; 
health insurance issuers (but only with respect to plans that are 
otherwise also exempt under the rules); and objecting individuals with 
respect to their own coverage, where their health insurance issuer and 
plan sponsor, as applicable, are willing to provide coverage complying 
with the individual's moral objection. After considering public 
comments, the Departments have decided not to extend the moral 
exemptions to non-federal governmental entities at this time, although 
individuals receiving employer-sponsored insurance from a governmental 
entity may use the individual exemption if the other terms of the 
individual exemption apply, including that their employer is willing to 
offer them a plan consistent with their moral objection.
    In response to public comments, various changes are made to clarify 
the intended scope of the language in the Moral IFC's exemptions. The 
prefatory exemption language is clarified to ensure exemptions apply to 
a group health plan established or maintained by an objecting 
organization, or health insurance coverage offered or arranged by an 
objecting organization, to the extent of the objections. The 
Departments add language to specify that the exemption for institutions 
of higher education applies to non-governmental entities. The 
Departments also modified language describing the moral objection 
applicable to the exemptions, to specify that the entity objects, based 
on its sincerely held moral convictions, to its establishing, 
maintaining, providing, offering, or arranging for (as applicable) 
either: Coverage or payments for some or all contraceptive services; or 
a plan, issuer, or third party administrator that provides or arranges 
such coverage or payments.
    The Departments also clarify language in the exemption applicable 
to plans of objecting individuals. The clarification is made to ensure 
that the HRSA guidelines do not prevent a willing health insurance 
issuer offering group or individual health insurance coverage, and as 
applicable, a willing plan sponsor of a group health plan, from 
offering a separate policy, certificate or contract of insurance or a 
separate group health plan or benefit package option, to any group 
health plan sponsor (with respect to an individual) or individual, as 
applicable, who objects to coverage or payments for some or all 
contraceptive services based on sincerely held moral convictions. The 
exemption adds that, if an individual objects to some but not all 
contraceptive services, but the issuer, and as applicable, plan 
sponsor, are willing to provide the plan sponsor or individual, as 
applicable, with a separate policy, certificate or contract of 
insurance or a separate group health plan or benefit package option 
that omits all contraceptives, and the individual agrees, then the 
exemption applies as if the individual objects to all contraceptive 
services.
b. References to Moral Exemptions in Accommodation Regulations and in 
Regulatory Restatement of Statutory Language
    These rules finalize without change the references to the moral 
exemptions that were inserted by the Moral IFC into the rules that 
regulatorily restate the statutory language from section 2713(a) and 
(a)(4) of the Public Health Service Act. Similarly, these rules 
finalize without change from the Moral IFC references to the moral 
exemptions that were inserted into the regulations governing the 
optional accommodation process. These references operationalize the 
effect of the moral exemptions rule, and they allow contraceptive 
services to be made available to women if any employers with non-
religious moral objections to contraceptive coverage choose to use the 
optional accommodation process.
3. Summary of Costs, Savings and Benefits of the Major Provisions

------------------------------------------------------------------------
          Provision           Savings and Benefits          Costs
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Finalizing insertion of       These provisions,     We estimate no costs
 references to moral           finalized without     from finalizing
 exemptions into restatement   change, are for the   this part of the
 of statutory language from    purpose of            rule.
 section 2713(a) and (a)(4)    inserting
 of the Public Health          references to the
 Service Act.                  moral exemptions
                               into the regulatory
                               restatement of
                               section 2713(a) and
                               (a)(4) of the
                               Public Health
                               Service Act, which
                               already references
                               the religious
                               exemptions. This
                               operationalizes the
                               moral exemptions in
                               each of the tri-
                               agencies' rules. We
                               estimate no
                               economic savings or
                               benefit from
                               finalizing this
                               part of the rule,
                               but consider it a
                               deregulatory action
                               to minimize the
                               regulatory impact
                               beyond the scope
                               set forth in the
                               statute.

[[Page 57594]]

 
Finalized moral exemptions..  The moral exemptions  We estimate there
                               to the                will be only a
                               contraceptive         small amount of
                               coverage              costs for these
                               requirement are       exemptions, because
                               finalized with        they will primarily
                               technical changes.    be used by
                               Their purpose is to   organizations and
                               relieve burdens       individuals that do
                               that some entities    not want
                               and individuals       contraceptive
                               experience from       coverage. To the
                               being forced to       extent some other
                               choose between, on    employers will use
                               the one hand,         the exemption where
                               complying with        there will be
                               their moral beliefs   transfer costs for
                               and facing            women previously
                               penalties from        receiving
                               failing to comply     contraceptive
                               with the              coverage who will
                               contraceptive         no longer receive
                               coverage              that coverage, we
                               requirement, and on   expect those costs
                               the other hand,       to be minimal due
                               providing (or, for    to the small number
                               individuals,          of entities
                               obtaining)            expected to use the
                               contraceptive         exemptions with non-
                               coverage in           religious moral
                               violation of their    objections. We
                               sincerely held        estimate the
                               moral beliefs.        transfer costs will
                                                     amount to $8,760.
Finalizing insertion of       These provisions,     We do not estimate
 references to moral           finalized without     any entities with
 exemptions into optional      change, will allow    non-religious moral
 accommodation regulations.    organizations with    objections to use
                               moral objections to   the accommodation
                               contraceptive         process at this
                               coverage on the       time.
                               basis of sincerely
                               held moral
                               convictions to use
                               the accommodation
                               as an optional
                               process. These
                               provisions will
                               allow contraceptive
                               coverage to be made
                               available to women
                               covered by plans of
                               employers that
                               object to
                               contraceptive
                               coverage but do not
                               object to their
                               issuers or third
                               party
                               administrators
                               arranging for such
                               coverage to be
                               provided to persons
                               covered by their
                               plans.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

B. Background

    Over many decades, Congress has protected conscientious objections 
including based on moral convictions in the context of health care and 
human services, and including health coverage, even as it has sought to 
promote access to health services.\1\ In 2010, Congress enacted the 
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) (Pub. L. 111-148) 
(March 23, 2010). Congress enacted the Health Care and Education 
Reconciliation Act of 2010 (HCERA) (Pub. L. 111-152) on March 30, 2010, 
which, among other things, amended PPACA. As amended by HCERA, PPACA is 
known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
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    \1\ See, for example, 42 U.S.C. 300a-7 (protecting individuals 
and health care entities from being required to provide or assist 
sterilizations, abortions, or other lawful health services if it 
would violate their ``religious beliefs or moral convictions''); 42 
U.S.C. 238n (protecting individuals and entities that object to 
abortion); Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018, Div. H, Sec. 
507(d) (Departments of Labor, HHS, and Education, and Related 
Agencies Appropriations Act), Public Law 115-141, 132 Stat. 348, 764 
(Mar. 23, 2018) (protecting any ``health care professional, a 
hospital, a provider-sponsored organization, a health maintenance 
organization, a health insurance plan, or any other kind of health 
care facility, organization, or plan'' in objecting to abortion for 
any reason); Id. at Div. E, Sec. 726(c) (Financial Services and 
General Government Appropriations Act) (protecting individuals who 
object to prescribing or providing contraceptives contrary to their 
``religious beliefs or moral convictions''); Id. at Div. E, Sec. 808 
(regarding any requirement of ``the provision of contraceptive 
coverage by health insurance plans'' in the District of Columbia, 
``it is the intent of Congress that any legislation enacted on such 
issue should include a `conscience clause' which provides exceptions 
for religious beliefs and moral convictions.''); Id. at Div. K, 
Title III (Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related 
Programs Appropriations Act) (protecting applicants for family 
planning funds based on their ``religious or conscientious 
commitment to offer only natural family planning''); 42 U.S.C. 
290bb-36 (prohibiting the statutory section from being construed to 
require suicide related treatment services for youth where the 
parents or legal guardians object based on ``religious beliefs or 
moral objections''); 42 U.S.C. 1395w-22(j)(3)(B) (protecting against 
forced counseling or referrals in Medicare+Choice, now Medicare 
Advantage, managed care plans with respect to objections based on 
``moral or religious grounds''); 42 U.S.C. 1396a(w)(3) (ensuring 
particular Federal law does not infringe on ``conscience'' as 
protected in State law concerning advance directives); 42 U.S.C. 
1396u-2(b)(3) (protecting against forced counseling or referrals in 
Medicaid managed care plans with respect to objections based on 
``moral or religious grounds''); 42 U.S.C. 2996f(b) (protecting 
objection to abortion funding in legal services assistance grants 
based on ``religious beliefs or moral convictions''); 42 U.S.C. 
14406 (protecting organizations and health providers from being 
required to inform or counsel persons pertaining to assisted 
suicide); 42 U.S.C. 18023 (blocking any requirement that issuers or 
exchanges must cover abortion); 42 U.S.C. 18113 (protecting health 
plans or health providers from being required to provide an item or 
service that helps cause assisted suicide); see also 8 U.S.C. 
1182(g) (protecting vaccination objections by ``aliens'' due to 
``religious beliefs or moral convictions''); 18 U.S.C. 3597 
(protecting objectors to participation in Federal executions based 
on ``moral or religious convictions''); 20 U.S.C. 1688 (prohibiting 
sex discrimination law to be used to require assistance in abortion 
for any reason); 22 U.S.C. 7631(d) (protecting entities from being 
required to use HIV/AIDS funds contrary to their ``religious or 
moral objection'').
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    The ACA reorganized, amended, and added to the provisions of part A 
of title XXVII of the Public Health Service Act (PHS Act) relating to 
group health plans and health insurance issuers in the group and 
individual markets. The ACA added section 715(a)(1) to the Employee 
Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and section 9815(a)(1) 
to the Internal Revenue Code (Code), in order to incorporate the 
provisions of part A of title XXVII of the PHS Act into ERISA and the 
Code, and to make them applicable to group health plans and health 
insurance issuers providing health insurance coverage in connection 
with group health plans. The sections of the PHS Act incorporated into 
ERISA and the Code are sections 2701 through 2728.
    In section 2713(a)(4) of the PHS Act (hereinafter ``section 
2713(a)(4)''), Congress provided administrative discretion to require 
that certain group health plans and health insurance issuers cover 
certain women's preventive services, in addition to other preventive 
services required to be covered in section 2713. Congress granted that 
discretion to the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), 
a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). 
Specifically, section 2713(a)(4) allows HRSA discretion to specify 
coverage requirements, ``with respect to women, such additional 
preventive care and screenings as provided for in comprehensive 
guidelines supported'' by HRSA (the ``Guidelines'').
    Since 2011, HRSA has exercised that discretion to require coverage 
for, among other things, certain contraceptive services.\2\ In the same

[[Page 57595]]

time period, the administering agencies--HHS, the Department of Labor, 
and the Department of the Treasury (collectively, ``the Departments'' 
\3\)--exercised discretion to allow exemptions to those requirements by 
issuing rulemaking various times, including issuing and finalizing 
three interim final regulations prior to 2017.\4\ In those regulations, 
the Departments crafted exemptions and accommodations for certain 
religious objectors where the Guidelines require coverage of 
contraceptive services, changed the scope of those exemptions and 
accommodations, and solicited public comments on a number of occasions. 
Public comments were submitted on various iterations of the regulations 
issued before 2017, and some of those comments supported expanding the 
exemptions to include those who oppose the contraceptive coverage 
mandate for either religious ``or moral'' reasons, consistent with 
various state laws (such as in Connecticut or Missouri) that protect 
objections to contraceptive coverage based on moral convictions.\5\
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    \2\ The references in this document to ``contraception,'' 
``contraceptive,'' ``contraceptive coverage,'' or ``contraceptive 
services'' generally include all contraceptives, sterilization, and 
related patient education and counseling, required by the Women's 
Preventive Guidelines, unless otherwise indicated. The Guidelines 
issued in 2011 referred to ``Contraceptive Methods and Counseling'' 
as ``[a]ll Food and Drug Administration approved contraceptive 
methods, sterilization procedures, and patient education and 
counseling for all women with reproductive capacity.'' https://www.hrsa.gov/womens-guidelines/index.html. The Guidelines as amended 
in December 2016 refer, under the header ``Contraception,'' to: 
``the full range of female-controlled U.S. Food and Drug 
Administration-approved contraceptive methods, effective family 
planning practices, and sterilization procedures,'' ``contraceptive 
counseling, initiation of contraceptive use, and follow-up care 
(e.g., management, and evaluation as well as changes to and removal 
or discontinuation of the contraceptive method),'' and ``instruction 
in fertility awareness-based methods, including the lactation 
amenorrhea method.'' https://www.hrsa.gov/womens-guidelines-2016/index.html.
    \3\ Note, however, that in sections under headings listing only 
two of the three Departments, the term ``Departments'' generally 
refers only to the two Departments listed in the heading.
    \4\ Interim final regulations on July 19, 2010, at 75 FR 41726 
(July 2010 interim final regulations); interim final regulations 
amending the July 2010 interim final regulations on August 3, 2011, 
at 76 FR 46621; final regulations on February 15, 2012, at 77 FR 
8725 (2012 final regulations); an advance notice of proposed 
rulemaking (ANPRM) on March 21, 2012, at 77 FR 16501; proposed 
regulations on February 6, 2013, at 78 FR 8456; final regulations on 
July 2, 2013, at 78 FR 39870 (July 2013 final regulations); interim 
final regulations on August 27, 2014, at 79 FR 51092 (August 2014 
interim final regulations); proposed regulations on August 27, 2014, 
at 79 FR 51118 (August 2014 proposed regulations); final regulations 
on July 14, 2015, at 80 FR 41318 (July 2015 final regulations); and 
a request for information on July 26, 2016, at 81 FR 47741 (RFI), 
which was addressed in an FAQ document issued on January 9, 2017, 
available at: https://www.dol.gov/sites/default/files/ebsa/about-ebsa/our-activities/resource-center/faqs/aca-part-36.pdf and https://www.cms.gov/CCIIO/Resources/Fact-Sheets-and-FAQs/Downloads/ACA-FAQs-Part36_1-9-17-Final.pdf.
    \5\ See, for example, Denise M. Burke, Re: file code CMS-9968-P, 
Regulations.gov (posted May 5, 2013), http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=CMS-2012-0031-79115; Comment, Regulations.gov 
(posted Oct. 26, 2016), https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=CMS-2016-0123-54142; David Sater, Re: CMS-9931-NC: Request for 
Information, Regulations.gov (posted Oct. 26, 2016), https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=CMS-2016-0123-54218; Comment, 
Regulations.gov (posted Oct. 26, 2016), https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=CMS-2016-0123-46220.
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    During the period when the Departments were publishing and 
modifying the regulations, organizations and individuals filed dozens 
of lawsuits challenging the contraceptive coverage requirement and 
regulations (hereinafter, the ``contraceptive Mandate,'' or the 
``Mandate''). Plaintiffs included religious nonprofit organizations, 
businesses run by religious families, individuals, and others, 
including several non-religious organizations that opposed coverage of 
certain contraceptives under the Mandate on the basis of non-religious 
moral convictions. For-profit entities with religious objections won 
various court decisions leading to the Supreme Court's ruling in 
Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. 134 S. Ct. 2751 (2014). The Supreme 
Court ruled against the Departments and held that, under the Religious 
Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (RFRA), the Mandate could not be 
applied to the closely held for-profit corporations before the Court 
because their owners had religious objections to providing such 
coverage.\6\ Later, a second series of legal challenges were filed by 
religious nonprofit organizations that stated the accommodation 
impermissibly burdened their religious beliefs because it utilized 
their health plans to provide services to which they objected on 
religious grounds, and it required them to submit a self-certification 
or notice. On May 16, 2016, the Supreme Court issued a per curiam 
decision, vacating the judgments of the Courts of Appeals--most of 
which had ruled in the Departments' favor--and remanding the cases ``in 
light of the substantial clarification and refinement in the positions 
of the parties'' that had been filed in supplemental briefs. Zubik v. 
Burwell, 136 S. Ct. 1557, 1560 (2016). The Court stated that it 
anticipated that, on remand, the Courts of Appeals would ``allow the 
parties sufficient time to resolve any outstanding issues between 
them.'' Id.
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    \6\ The Supreme Court did not decide whether RFRA would apply to 
publicly traded for-profit corporations. See 134 S. Ct. at 2774.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Beginning in 2015, lawsuits challenging the Mandate were also filed 
by various non-religious organizations with moral objections to 
contraceptive coverage. These organizations stated that they believe 
some methods classified by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as 
contraceptives may have an abortifacient effect and, therefore, in 
their view, are morally equivalent to abortion to which they have a 
moral objection. Under regulations preceding October 2017, these 
organizations neither received an exemption from the Mandate nor 
qualified for the accommodation. For example, March for Life filed a 
complaint claiming that the Mandate violated the equal protection 
component of the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment, and was 
arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). 
Citing, for example, 77 FR 8727, March for Life argued that the 
Departments' stated interests behind the Mandate were only advanced 
among women who ``want'' the coverage so as to prevent ``unintended'' 
pregnancy. March for Life contended that, because it only hires 
employees who publicly advocate against abortion, including what they 
regard as abortifacient contraceptive items, the Departments' interests 
were not rationally advanced by imposing the Mandate upon it and its 
employees. Accordingly, March for Life contended that applying the 
Mandate to it (and other similarly situated organizations) lacked a 
rational basis and, therefore, was arbitrary and capricious in 
violation of the APA. March for Life further contended that, because 
the Departments concluded the government's interests were not 
undermined by exempting houses of worship and integrated auxiliaries 
(based on the assumption that such entities are relatively more likely 
than other nonprofits with religious objections to have employees that 
share their views against certain contraceptives), applying the Mandate 
to March for Life or similar organizations that definitively hire only 
employees who oppose certain contraceptives lacked a rational basis 
and, therefore, violated their right of equal protection under the Due 
Process Clause.
    March for Life's employees, who stated they were personally 
religious (although personal religiosity was not a condition of their 
employment), also sued as co-plaintiffs. They contended that the 
Mandate violated their rights under RFRA by making it impossible for 
them to obtain health coverage consistent with their religious beliefs, 
either from the plan March for Life wanted to offer them, or in the 
individual market, because the Departments offered no exemptions in 
either circumstance. Another non-religious nonprofit organization that 
opposed the Mandate's requirement to provide certain contraceptive 
coverage on moral grounds also filed a lawsuit challenging the Mandate. 
Real

[[Page 57596]]

Alternatives, Inc. v. Burwell, 150 F. Supp. 3d 419 (M.D. Pa. 2015).
    Challenges by non-religious nonprofit organizations led to 
conflicting opinions among the federal courts. A district court agreed 
with the March for Life plaintiffs on the organization's equal 
protection claim and the employees' RFRA claims, while not specifically 
ruling on the APA claim, and issued a permanent injunction against the 
Departments that is still in place. March for Life v. Burwell, 128 F. 
Supp. 3d 116 (D.D.C. 2015). The appeal in March for Life is pending and 
has been stayed since early 2016. In another case, federal district and 
appellate courts in Pennsylvania disagreed with the reasoning in March 
for Life, and ruled against claims brought by a similarly non-religious 
nonprofit employer and its religious employees. Real Alternatives, 150 
F. Supp. 3d 419, affirmed by 867 F.3d 338 (3d Cir. 2017). One member of 
the appeals court panel in Real Alternatives v. Sec'y of HHS dissented 
in part, stating he would have ruled in favor of the individual 
employee plaintiffs under RFRA. 867 F.3d 338, 367 (3d Cir. 2017) 
(Jordan, J., dissenting).
    The Departments most recently solicited public comments on these 
issues again in two interim final regulations with request for comments 
published in the Federal Register on October 13, 2017: The regulations 
(82 FR 47838) (the Moral IFC) that are being finalized with changes 
here, and the regulations (82 FR 47792) (the Religious IFC) published 
on the same day as the Moral IFC, which are being finalized with 
changes in the companion final rules published elsewhere in today's 
Federal Register.
    In the preamble to the Moral IFC, the Departments explained several 
reasons why, after exercising our discretion to reevaluate the 
exemptions and accommodations for the contraceptive Mandate, we sought 
public comment on whether to protect moral convictions in the Moral IFC 
and these final rules. The Departments noted that we considered, among 
other things, Congress's history of providing protections for moral 
convictions regarding certain health services (including contraception, 
sterilization, and items or services believed to involve abortion); the 
text, context, and intent of section 2713(a)(4) and the ACA; Executive 
Order 13798, ``Promoting Free Speech and Religious Liberty'' (May 4, 
2017); previously submitted public comments; and the extensive 
litigation over the contraceptive Mandate. The Departments concluded 
that it was appropriate that HRSA take into account the moral 
convictions of certain employers, individuals and health insurance 
issuers where the coverage of contraceptive services is concerned. 
Comments were requested on the interim final regulations.
    After consideration of the comments and feedback received from 
stakeholders, the Departments are finalizing the Moral IFC, with 
changes based on comments as indicated herein.\7\
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    \7\ The Department of the Treasury and Internal Revenue Service 
published proposed and temporary regulations as part of the joint 
rulemaking of the Moral IFC. The Departments of Labor and HHS 
published their respective rules as interim final rules with request 
for comments and are finalizing their interim final rules in these 
final rules. The Department of the Treasury and Internal Revenue 
Service are finalizing their regulations.
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II. Overview of the Final Rules and Public Comments

    During the 60-day comment period for the Moral IFC, which closed on 
December 5, 2017, the Departments received over 54,000 public comment 
submissions, which are posted to www.regulations.gov.\8\ Below, the 
Departments provide an overview of the final rules and address the 
issues raised in the comments we received.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \8\ See Regulations.gov at https://www.regulations.gov/searchResults?rpp=25&so=DESC&sb=postedDate&po=0&cmd=12%7C05%7C17-12%7C05%7C17&dktid=CMS-2017-0133 and https://www.regulations.gov/docketBrowser?rpp=25&so=ASC&sb=postedDate&po=100&D=IRS-2017-0015. 
Some of those submissions included form letters or attachments that, 
while not separately tabulated at regulations.gov, together included 
comments from, or were signed by, possibly over a hundred thousand 
separate persons. The Departments reviewed all of the public 
comments and attachments.
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A. Moral Exemptions and Accommodation in General

    These rules expand exemptions to protect certain entities and 
individuals with moral convictions that oppose contraception whose 
health plans are subject to a mandate of contraceptive coverage through 
guidance issued pursuant to the ACA. These rules do not alter the 
discretion of HRSA, a component of HHS, to maintain the Guidelines 
requiring contraceptive coverage where no regulatorily recognized 
objection exists. These rules also make available to exempt 
organizations the accommodation process, which was previously 
established in response to some objections of religious organizations, 
as an optional process for exempt entities that wish to use it 
voluntarily. These rules do not alter multiple other federal programs 
that provide free or subsidized contraceptives or related education and 
counseling for women at risk of unintended pregnancy.\9\
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    \9\ See, for example, Family Planning grants in 42 U.S.C. 300, 
et seq.; the Teenage Pregnancy Prevention Program, Public Law 112-74 
(125 Stat 786, 1080); the Healthy Start Program, 42 U.S.C. 254c-8; 
the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program, 42 
U.S.C. 711; Maternal and Child Health Block Grants, 42 U.S.C. 703; 
42 U.S.C. 247b-12; Title XIX of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. 
1396, et seq.; the Indian Health Service, 25 U.S.C. 13, 42 U.S.C. 
2001(a), & 25 U.S.C. 1601, et seq.; Health center grants, 42 U.S.C. 
254b(e), (g), (h), & (i); the NIH Clinical Center, 42 U.S.C. 248; 
and the Personal Responsibility Education Program, 42 U.S.C. 713.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. The Departments' Authority To Mandate Coverage or Provide Exemptions
    The Departments received conflicting comments on their legal 
authority to provide exemptions and accommodations to the Mandate. Some 
commenters agreed that the Departments are legally authorized to 
provide expanded exemptions and an accommodation for moral convictions, 
noting that there was no requirement of contraceptive coverage in the 
ACA and no prohibition on providing moral exemptions in Guidelines 
issued under section 2713(a)(4). Other commenters, however, asserted 
that the Departments have no legal authority to provide any exemptions 
to the contraceptive Mandate, contending, based on statements in the 
ACA's legislative history, that the ACA requires contraceptive 
coverage. Still other commenters contended that the Departments are 
legally authorized to provide the religious exemptions that existed 
prior to the 2017 IFCs, but not to protect moral convictions.
    The Departments conclude that we are legally authorized to provide 
the exemption and accommodation for moral convictions set forth in the 
Moral IFC and these final rules. These rules concern section 2713 of 
the PHS Act, as incorporated into ERISA and the Code. Congress has 
granted the Departments legal authority, collectively, to administer 
these statutes. (26 U.S.C. 9833; 29 U.S.C. 1191c; 42 U.S.C. 300gg-92).
    Where it applies, section 2713(a)(4) requires coverage without cost 
sharing for ``such additional'' women's preventive care and screenings 
``as provided for'' and ``supported by'' guidelines developed by HHS 
acting through HRSA. When Congress enacted this provision, those 
Guidelines did not exist. And nothing in the statute mandated that the 
Guidelines had to include contraception, let alone for all types of 
employers with covered plans. Instead, section 2713(a)(4) provided a

[[Page 57597]]

positive grant of authority for HSRA to develop those Guidelines, thus 
delegating authority to HHS to shape that development, as the 
administering agency of HRSA, and to all three agencies as the 
administering agencies of the statutes by which the Guidelines are 
enforced. See 26 U.S.C. 9833; 29 U.S.C. 1191(c), 42 U.S.C. 300gg-92. 
That is especially true for HHS, as HRSA is a component of HHS that was 
unilaterally created by the agency and thus is subject to the agency's 
general supervision, see 47 FR 38409 (August 31, 1982). Thus, nothing 
prevented HRSA from creating an exemption from otherwise-applicable 
guidelines or prevented HHS and the other agencies from directing that 
HRSA create such an exemption.
    Congress did not specify the extent to which HRSA must ``provide 
for'' and ``support'' the application of Guidelines that it chooses to 
adopt. HRSA's authority to support ``comprehensive guidelines'' 
involves determining both the types of coverage and scope of that 
coverage. Section 2714(a)(4) requires coverage for preventive services 
only ``as provided for in comprehensive guidelines supported by 
[HRSA].'' That is, services are required to be included in coverage 
only to the extent that the Guidelines supported by HRSA provide for 
them. Through use of the word ``as'' in the phrase ``as provided for,'' 
it requires that HRSA support how those services apply--that is, the 
manner in which the support will happen, such as in the phrase ``as you 
like it.'' \10\ When Congress means to require certain activities to 
occur in a certain manner, instead of simply authorizing the agency to 
decide the manner in which they will occur, Congress knows how to do 
so. See for example, 42 U.S.C. 1395x (``The Secretary shall establish 
procedures to make beneficiaries and providers aware of the requirement 
that a beneficiary complete a health risk assessment prior to or at the 
same time as receiving personalized prevention plan services.'') 
(emphasis added). Thus, the inclusion of ``as'' in section 300gg-
13(a)(3), and its absence in similar neighboring provisions, shows that 
HRSA has discretion whether to support how the preventive coverage 
mandate applies--it does not refer to the timing of the promulgation of 
the Guidelines.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \10\ See As (usage 2), Oxford English Dictionary Online (Feb. 
2018) (``[u]sed to indicate by comparison the way something happens 
or is done'').
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Nor is it simply a textual aberration that the word ``as'' is 
missing from the other three provisions in section 2713(a) of the PHS 
Act. Rather, this difference mirrors other distinctions within that 
section that demonstrate that Congress intended HRSA to have the 
discretion the Agencies invoke. For example, sections (a)(1) and (a)(3) 
require ``evidence-based'' or ``evidence-informed'' coverage, while 
section (a)(4) does not. This difference suggests that the Agencies 
have the leeway to incorporate policy-based concerns into their 
decision-making. This reading of section 2713(a)(4) also prevents the 
statute from being interpreted in a cramped way that allows no 
flexibility or tailoring, and that would force the Departments to 
choose between ignoring religious objections in violation of RFRA or 
else eliminating the contraceptive coverage requirement from the 
Guidelines altogether. The Departments instead interpret section 
2713(a)(4) as authorizing HRSA's Guidelines to set forth both the kinds 
of items and services that will be covered, and the scope of entities 
to which the contraceptive coverage requirement in those Guidelines 
will apply.
    The moral objections at issue here, like the religious objections 
prompting exemptions dating back to the inception of the Mandate in 
2011, may, consistent with the statutory provision, permissibly inform 
what HHS, through HRSA, decides to provide for and support in the 
Guidelines. Since the first rulemaking on this subject in 2011, the 
Departments have consistently interpreted the broad discretion granted 
to HRSA in section 2713(a)(4) as including the power to reconcile the 
ACA's preventive-services requirement with sincerely held views of 
conscience on the sensitive subject of contraceptive coverage--namely, 
by exempting churches and their integrated auxiliaries from the 
contraceptive-coverage Mandate. (See 76 FR at 46623.) As the 
Departments explained at that time, the HRSA Guidelines ``exist solely 
to bind non-grandfathered group health plans and health insurance 
issuers with respect to the extent of their coverage of certain 
preventive services for women,'' and ``it is appropriate that HRSA . . 
. takes into account the effect on the religious beliefs of [employers] 
if coverage of contraceptive services were required in [their] group 
health plans.'' Id. Consistent with that longstanding view, Congress's 
grant of discretion in section 2713(a)(4), and the lack of a mandate 
that contraceptives be covered or that they be covered without any 
exemptions or exceptions, lead the Departments to conclude that we are 
legally authorized to exempt certain entities or plans from a 
contraceptive Mandate if HRSA decides to otherwise include 
contraceptives in its Guidelines.
    The Departments' conclusions are consistent with our interpretation 
of section 2713 of the PHS Act since 2010, when the ACA was enacted, 
and since the Departments started to issue interim final regulations 
implementing that section. The Departments have consistently 
interpreted section 2713(a)(4) to grant broad discretion to decide the 
extent to which HRSA will provide for, and support, the coverage of 
additional women's preventive care and screenings, including the 
decision to exempt certain entities and plans, and not to provide for 
or support the application of the Guidelines with respect to those 
entities or plans. The Departments created an exemption to the 
contraceptive Mandate when that Mandate was announced in 2011, and then 
amended and expanded the exemption and added an accommodation process 
in multiple rulemakings thereafter. The accommodation process requires 
the provision of coverage or payments for contraceptives to plan 
participants in an eligible organization's health plan by the 
organization's insurer or third party administrator. However, the 
accommodation process itself, in some cases, failed to require 
contraceptive coverage for many women, because--as the Departments 
acknowledged at the time--the enforcement mechanism for that process, 
section 3(16) of ERISA, does not provide a means to impose an 
obligation to provide contraceptive coverage on the third party 
administrator of self-insured church plans (see 80 FR 41323). Non-
exempt employers participate in many church plans. Therefore, in both 
the previous exemption, and in the previous accommodation's application 
to self-insured church plans, the Departments have been choosing not to 
require contraceptive coverage for certain kinds of employers since the 
Guidelines were adopted. In doing so, the Departments have been acting 
contrary to commenters who contended the Departments had no authority 
to create exemptions under section 2713 of the PHS Act, or its 
incorporation into ERISA and the Code, and who contended instead that 
the Departments must enforce Guidelines on the broadest spectrum of 
group health plans as possible, even including churches (see, for 
example, 2012 final regulations at 77 FR 8726).
    The Departments' interpretation of section 2713(a)(4) is confirmed 
by the ACA's statutory structure. Congress did not intend to require 
entirely uniform coverage of preventive services (see for

[[Page 57598]]

example, 76 FR 46623). On the contrary, Congress carved out an 
exemption from section 2713 of the PHS Act (and from several other 
provisions) for grandfathered plans. In contrast, the grandfathering 
exemption is not applicable to many of the other provisions in Title I 
of the ACA--provisions previously referred to by the Departments as 
providing ``particularly significant protections.'' (75 FR 34540). 
Those provisions include (from the PHS Act) section 2704, which 
prohibits preexisting condition exclusions or other discrimination 
based on health status in group health coverage; section 2708, which 
prohibits excessive waiting periods (as of January 1, 2014); section 
2711, which relates to lifetime dollar limits; section 2712, which 
generally prohibits rescission of health coverage; section 2714, which 
extends dependent child coverage until the child turns 26; and section 
2718, which imposes a minimum medical loss ratio on health insurance 
issuers in the individual and group markets (for insured coverage), and 
requires them to provide rebates to policyholders if that medical loss 
ratio is not met. (75 FR 34538, 34540, 34542). Consequently, of the 150 
million nonelderly people in America with employer-sponsored health 
coverage, approximately 25.5 million are estimated to be enrolled in 
grandfathered plans not subject to section 2713.\11\ Some commenters 
assert the exemptions for grandfathered plans are temporary, or were 
intended to be temporary, but as the Supreme Court observed, ``there is 
no legal requirement that grandfathered plans ever be phased out.'' 
Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., 134 S. Ct. 2751, 2764 n.10 (2014).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \11\ Kaiser Family Foundation & Health Research & Educational 
Trust, ``Employer Health Benefits, 2017 Annual Survey,'' Henry J 
Kaiser Family Foundation (Sept. 19, 2017), http://files.kff.org/attachment/Report-Employer-Health-Benefits-Annual-Survey-2017.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Some commenters argue that Executive Order 13535's reference to 
implementing the ACA consistent with certain conscience laws does not 
justify creating exemptions to contraceptive coverage in the 
Guidelines, because those laws do not specifically require exemptions 
in the Guidelines. The Departments, however, believe that they are 
acting consistent with Executive Order 13535 by creating exemptions 
using HRSA's authority under section 2713(a)(4), and the Departments' 
administrative authority over the implementation of section 2713(a) of 
the PHS Act. Executive Order 13535, issued upon the signing of the ACA, 
specified that ``longstanding Federal laws to protect conscience . . . 
remain intact,'' including laws that protect holders of religious 
beliefs or moral convictions from certain requirements in health care 
contexts. Although the text of Executive Order 13535 does not require 
the expanded exemptions confirmed in these final rules, the expanded 
exemptions are, as explained below, consistent with longstanding 
federal laws to protect conscience objections, based on religious 
beliefs or moral convictions regarding certain health matters, and are 
consistent with the intent that the ACA be implemented in accordance 
with the conscience protections set forth in those laws.
    Some commenters contended that, even though Executive Order 13535 
refers to the Church Amendments, the intention of those statutes is 
narrow, should not be construed to extend to entities instead of to 
individuals, and should not be construed to prohibit procedures. But 
those comments mistake the Departments' position. The Departments are 
not construing the Church Amendments to require these exemptions, nor 
do the exemptions prohibit any procedures. Instead, through 
longstanding federal conscience statutes, Congress has established 
consistent principles concerning respect for sincerely held moral 
convictions in sensitive healthcare contexts.\12\ Under those 
principles, and absent any contrary requirement of law, the Departments 
are offering exemptions for sincerely held moral convictions to the 
extent the Departments otherwise impose a contraceptive Mandate. These 
exemptions do not prohibit any services, nor authorize employers to 
prohibit employees from obtaining any services. The exemptions in the 
Moral IFC and these final rules simply refrain from imposing a federal 
mandate that employers cover contraceptives in their health plans even 
if they have sincerely held moral convictions against doing so.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \12\ The Departments note that the Church Amendments are the 
subject of another, ongoing rulemaking process. See Protecting 
Statutory Conscience Rights in Health Care; Delegations of 
Authority, 83 FR 3880 (NPRM Jan. 26, 2018). Since the Departments 
are not construing the Amendments to require the religious 
exemptions, we defer issues regarding the scope, interpretation, and 
protections of the Amendments to HHS in that rulemaking.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Some commenters stated that the Supreme Court ruled that the 
exemptions provided for houses of worship and integrated auxiliaries 
were required by the First Amendment. From this, commenters concluded 
that the exemptions for houses of worship and integrated auxiliaries 
are legally authorized, but that exemptions beyond those are not. But 
the Supreme Court did not rule on the question whether the exemptions 
provided for houses of worship and integrated auxiliaries were required 
by the First Amendment, and the Court did not say the Departments must 
apply the contraceptive Mandate unless RFRA prohibits us from doing so.
    The appropriateness of including exemptions to protect moral 
convictions is informed by Congress's long history of providing 
exemptions for moral convictions, especially in certain health care 
contexts.
2. Congress's History of Protecting Moral Convictions
    The Department received numerous comments about its decision in the 
Moral IFC to exercise its discretion to provide moral exemptions to, 
and an accommodation under, the contraceptive Mandate. Some commenters 
agreed with the Departments' decision in the Moral IFC, arguing that it 
is appropriate to exercise the Departments' discretion to protect moral 
convictions in light of Congress's history of protecting moral 
convictions in various contexts, especially concerning health care. 
Other commenters disagreed, saying that existing conscience statutes 
protecting moral convictions do not require these exemptions and, 
therefore, the exemptions should not be offered. Some commenters stated 
that because Congress has provided conscience protections, but did not 
specifically provide them in section 2713(a)(4), conscience protections 
are inappropriate in the implementation of that section. Still other 
commenters went further, disagreeing with conscience protections 
regarding contraceptives, abortions, or health care in general.
    In deciding the most appropriate way to exercise our discretion in 
this context, the Departments draw on the most recent statements of 
Congress, along with nearly 50 years of statutes and Supreme Court 
precedent discussing the protection of moral convictions in certain 
circumstances--particularly in the context of health care and health 
coverage. Most recently, Congress expressed its intent on the matter of 
Government-mandated contraceptive coverage when it declared, with 
respect to the possibility that the District of Columbia would require 
contraceptive coverage, that ``it is the intent of Congress that any 
legislation enacted on such issue should include a `conscience clause' 
which provides exceptions for religious beliefs and moral 
convictions.'' Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018, Div. E, section 
808, Public Law 115-141, 132 Stat. 348, 603 (Mar. 23, 2018); see also

[[Page 57599]]

Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2017, Div. C, section 808, Public Law 
115-31 (May 5, 2017). The Departments consider it significant that 
Congress's most recent statements on the prospect of Government-
mandated contraceptive coverage specifically intend that a conscience 
clause be included to protect moral convictions.
    The Departments also consider significant the many statutes listed 
above, in section I--Background footnote 1, that show Congress's 
consistent protection of moral convictions alongside religious beliefs 
in the federal regulation of health care. These include laws such as 
the Church Amendments (dating back to 1973), which we discuss at length 
below, to the 2018 Consolidated Appropriations Act discussed above. 
Notably among those laws, and in addition to the Church Amendments, 
Congress has enacted protections for health plans or health care 
organizations in Medicaid or Medicare Advantage to object ``on moral or 
religious grounds'' to providing coverage of certain counseling or 
referral services. 42 U.S.C. 1395w-22(j)(3)(B) (protecting against 
forced counseling or referrals in Medicare + Choice (now Medicare 
Advantage) managed care plans with respect to objections based on 
``moral or religious grounds''); 42 U.S.C. 1396u-2(b)(3) (protecting 
against forced counseling or referrals in Medicaid managed care plans 
with respect to objections based on ``moral or religious grounds''). 
Congress has also protected individuals who object to prescribing or 
providing contraceptives contrary to their ``religious beliefs or moral 
convictions.'' Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018, Public Law 115-
141, Division E, section 726(c); see also Consolidated Appropriations 
Act of 2017, Division C, Title VII, Sec. 726(c) (Financial Services and 
General Government Appropriations Act), Public Law 115-31.\13\
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    \13\ The Departments also note that, in protecting those 
individual and institutional health care entities that object to 
certain abortion-related services and activities regardless of the 
basis for such objection, the Coats-Snowe Amendment, PHS Act section 
245 (42 U.S.C. 238n), and the Weldon Amendment, Consolidated 
Appropriations Act, 2018, Div. H, Sec. 507(d), Public Law 115-141, 
protect those whose objection is based on moral conviction.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The Departments disagree with commenters that suggested we should 
not consider Congress's history of protecting moral objections in 
certain health care contexts due to Congress's failure to explicitly 
include exemptions in section 2713(a)(4) itself. The argument by these 
commenters proves too much, since Congress also did not specifically 
require contraceptive coverage in section 2713 of the PHS Act. This 
argument would also negate not just these expanded exemptions, but the 
previous exemptions provided for houses of worship and integrated 
auxiliaries, and the indirect exemption for self-insured church plans 
that use the accommodation. Where Congress left so many matters 
concerning section 2713(a)(4) to agency discretion, the Departments 
consider it appropriate to implement these expanded exemptions in light 
of Congress's long history of respecting moral convictions in the 
context of certain federal health care requirements.
a. The Church Amendments' Protection of Moral Convictions
    One of the most important and well-established federal statutes 
respecting conscientious objections in specific health care contexts 
was enacted over the course of several years beginning in 1973, 
initially as a response to court decisions raising the prospect that 
entities or individuals might be required to facilitate abortions or 
sterilizations because they had received federal funds. These sections 
of the U.S. Code are known as the Church Amendments, named after their 
primary sponsor, Senator Frank Church (D-Idaho). The Church Amendments 
specifically provide conscience protections based on sincerely held 
moral convictions, not just religious beliefs. Among other things, the 
amendments protect the recipients of certain federal health funds from 
being required to perform, assist, or make their facilities available 
for abortions or sterilizations if they object ``on the basis of 
religious beliefs or moral convictions,'' and they prohibit recipients 
of certain federal health funds from discriminating against any 
personnel ``because he refused to perform or assist in the performance 
of such a procedure or abortion on the grounds that his performance or 
assistance in the performance of the procedure or abortion would be 
contrary to his religious beliefs or moral convictions'' (42 U.S.C. 
300a-7(b), (c)(1)). Later additions to the Church Amendments protect 
other conscientious objections, including some objections on the basis 
of moral conviction to ``any lawful health service,'' or to ``any part 
of a health service program.'' (42 U.S.C. 300a-7(c)(2), (d)). In 
contexts covered by those sections of the Church Amendments, the 
provision or coverage of certain contraceptives, depending on the 
circumstances, could constitute ``any lawful health service'' or a 
``part of a health service program.'' As such, the protections provided 
by those provisions of the Church Amendments would encompass moral 
objections to contraceptive services or coverage.
    The Church Amendments were enacted in the wake of the Supreme 
Court's decision in Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973). Although the 
Court in Roe required abortion to be legal in certain circumstances, 
Roe did not include, within that right, the requirement that other 
citizens facilitate its exercise. Indeed, Roe favorably quoted the 
proceedings of the American Medical Association House of Delegates 220 
(June 1970), which declared, ``Neither physician, hospital, nor 
hospital personnel shall be required to perform any act violative of 
personally-held moral principles.'' 410 U.S. at 144 & n.38 (1973). 
Likewise, in Roe's companion case, Doe v. Bolton, the Court observed 
that, under state law, ``a physician or any other employee has the 
right to refrain, for moral or religious reasons, from participating in 
the abortion procedure.'' 410 U.S. 179, 197-98 (1973). The Court said 
that these conscience provisions ``obviously . . . afford appropriate 
protection.'' Id. at 198. As an Arizona court later put it, ``a woman's 
right to an abortion or to contraception does not compel a private 
person or entity to facilitate either.'' Planned Parenthood Ariz., Inc. 
v. Am. Ass'n of Pro-Life Obstetricians & Gynecologists, 257 P.3d 181, 
196 (Ariz. Ct. App. 2011).
    The Congressional Record contains discussions that occurred when 
the protection for moral convictions was first proposed in the Church 
Amendments. When Senator Church introduced the first of those 
amendments in 1973, he cited not only Roe v. Wade, but also an instance 
where a federal court had ordered a Catholic hospital to perform 
sterilizations. 119 Congr. Rec. S5717-18 (Mar. 27, 1973). After his 
opening remarks, Senator Adlai Stevenson III (D-IL) rose to ask that 
the amendment be changed to specify that it also protects objections to 
abortion and sterilization based on moral convictions on the same terms 
as it protects objections based on religious beliefs. The following 
excerpt of the Congressional Record records this discussion:

    Mr. STEVENSON. Mr. President, first of all I commend the Senator 
from Idaho for bringing this matter to the attention of the Senate. 
I ask the Senator a question.
    One need not be of the Catholic faith or any other religious 
faith to feel deeply about the worth of human life. The protections 
afforded by this amendment run only to those whose religious beliefs 
would be offended by the necessity of performing or

[[Page 57600]]

participating in the performance of certain medical procedures; 
others, for moral reasons, not necessarily for any religious belief, 
can feel equally as strong about human life. They too can revere 
human life.
    As mortals, we cannot with confidence say, when life begins. But 
whether it is life, or the potentiality of life, our moral 
convictions as well as our religious beliefs, warrant protection 
from this intrusion by the Government. Would, therefore, the Senator 
include moral convictions?
    Would the Senator consider an amendment on page 2, line 18 which 
would add to religious beliefs, the words ``or moral''?
    Mr. CHURCH. I would suggest to the Senator that perhaps his 
objective could be more clearly stated if the words ``or moral 
conviction'' were added after ``religious belief.'' I think that the 
Supreme Court in considering the protection we give religious 
beliefs has given comparable treatment to deeply held moral 
convictions. I would not be averse to amending the language of the 
amendment in such a manner. It is consistent with the general 
purpose. I see no reason why a deeply held moral conviction ought 
not be given the same treatment as a religious belief.
    Mr. STEVENSON. The Senator's suggestion is well taken. I thank 
him.
119 Congr. Rec. S5717-18
    As the debate proceeded, Senator Church went on to quote Doe v. 
Bolton's reliance on a Georgia statute that stated ``a physician or any 
other employee has the right to refrain, for moral or religious 
reasons, from participating in the abortion procedure.'' 119 Congr. 
Rec. S5722 (quoting 410 U.S. at 197-98). Senator Church added, ``I see 
no reason why the amendment ought not also to cover doctors and nurses 
who have strong moral convictions against these particular 
operations.'' Id. Considering the scope of the protections, Senator 
Gaylord Nelson (D-WI) asked whether, ``if a hospital board, or whatever 
the ruling agency for the hospital was, a governing agency or 
otherwise, just capriciously--and not upon the religious or moral 
questions at all--simply said, `We are not going to bother with this 
kind of procedure in this hospital,' would the pending amendment permit 
that?'' 119 Congr. Rec. S5723. Senator Church responded that the 
amendment would not encompass such an objection. Id.
    Senator James L. Buckley (C-NY), speaking in support of the 
amendment, added the following perspective:

    Mr. BUCKLEY. Mr. President, I compliment the Senator from Idaho 
for proposing this most important and timely amendment. It is timely 
in the first instance because the attempt has already been made to 
compel the performance of abortion and sterilization operations on 
the part of those who are fundamentally opposed to such procedures. 
And it is timely also because the recent Supreme Court decisions 
will likely unleash a series of court actions across the United 
States to try to impose the personal preferences of the majority of 
the Supreme Court on the totality of the Nation.
    I believe it is ironic that we should have this debate at all. 
Who would have predicted a year or two ago that we would have to 
guard against even the possibility that someone might be free [sic] 
\14\ to participate in an abortion or sterilization against his 
will? Such an idea is repugnant to our political tradition. This is 
a Nation which has always been concerned with the right of 
conscience. It is the right of conscience which is protected in our 
draft laws. It is the right of conscience which the Supreme Court 
has quite properly expanded not only to embrace those young men who, 
because of the tenets of a particular faith, believe they cannot 
kill another man, but also those who because of their own deepest 
moral convictions are so persuaded.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \14\ The Senator might have meant ``[forced] . . . against his 
will.''
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    I am delighted that the Senator from Idaho has amended his 
language to include the words ``moral conviction,'' because, of 
course, we know that this is not a matter of concern to any one 
religious body to the exclusion of all others, or even to men who 
believe in a God to the exclusion of all others. It has been a 
traditional concept in our society from the earliest times that the 
right of conscience, like the paramount right to life from which it 
is derived, is sacred.

119 Congr. Rec. S5723
    In support of the same protections when they were debated in the 
U.S. House, Representative Margaret Heckler (R-MA) \15\ likewise 
observed that ``the right of conscience has long been recognized in the 
parallel situation in which the individual's right to conscientious 
objector status in our selective service system has been protected'' 
and ``expanded by the Supreme Court to include moral conviction as well 
as formal religious belief.'' 119 Congr. Rec. H4148-49 (May 31, 1973). 
Rep. Heckler added, ``We are concerned here only with the right of 
moral conscience, which has always been a part of our national 
tradition.'' Id. at 4149.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \15\ Rep. Heckler later served as the 15th Secretary of HHS, 
from March 1983 to December 1985.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    These first sections of the Church Amendments, codified at 42 
U.S.C. 300a-7(b) and (c)(1), passed the House 372-1, and were approved 
by the Senate 94-0. 119 Congr. Rec. at H4149; 119 Congr. Rec. S10405 
(June 5, 1973). The subsequently adopted provisions that comprise the 
Church Amendments similarly extend protection to those organizations 
and individuals who object to the provision of certain services on the 
basis of their moral convictions, as well as those who object to such 
services on the basis of religious beliefs. And, as noted above, 
subsequent statutes add protections for moral objections in many other 
situations. These include, for example:
     Protections for individuals and entities that object to 
abortion. See 42 U.S.C. 238n; 42 U.S.C. 18023; 42 U.S.C. 2996f(b); 
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018, Div. H, Sec. 507(d), Public Law 
115-141.
     Protections for entities and individuals that object to 
providing or covering contraceptives. See id. at Div. E, Sec. 808; id. 
at Div. E, Sec. 726(c) (Financial Services and General Government 
Appropriations Act); id. at Div. K, Title III.
     Protections for entities and individuals that object to 
performing, assisting, counseling, or referring as pertains to suicide, 
assisted suicide, or advance directives. See 42 U.S.C. 290bb-36; 42 
U.S.C. 1396a(w)(3); 42 U.S.C. 14406; 42 U.S.C. 18113 (adopted as part 
of the ACA).
    The Departments believe that the intent behind Congress's 
protection of moral convictions in certain health care contexts, 
especially to protect entities and individuals from governmental 
coercion, supports the Departments' decision in the Moral IFC and these 
final rules to protect sincerely held moral convictions from 
governmental compulsion threatened by the contraceptive Mandate.
b. Court Precedents Relevant to These Expanded Exemptions
    As reflected in the legislative history of the first Church 
Amendments, the Supreme Court has long afforded protection to moral 
convictions alongside religious beliefs. Indeed, Senator Church cited 
Doe v. Bolton, 410 U.S. 179, as a parallel instance of conscience 
protection and spoke of the Supreme Court generally giving ``comparable 
treatment to deeply held moral convictions.'' Both Senator Buckley and 
Rep. Heckler specifically cited the Supreme Court's protection of moral 
convictions in laws governing military service. Those legislators 
appear to have been referencing cases such as Welsh v. United States, 
398 U.S. 333 (1970), which the Supreme Court had decided just three 
years earlier.
    Welsh involved what is perhaps the Government's paradigmatic 
compelling interest--the need to defend the nation by military force. 
The Court stated that, where the Government protects objections to 
military service based on ``religious training and belief,'' that 
protection would also extend to avowedly non-religious objections to 
war held with the same moral strength.

[[Page 57601]]

Id. at 343. The Court declared, ``[i]f an individual deeply and 
sincerely holds beliefs that are purely ethical or moral in source and 
content but that nevertheless impose upon him a duty of conscience to 
refrain from participating in any war at any time, those beliefs 
certainly occupy in the life of that individual `a place parallel to 
that filled by . . . God' in traditionally religious persons. Because 
his beliefs function as a religion in his life, such an individual is 
as much entitled to a `religious' conscientious objector exemption . . 
. as is someone who derives his conscientious opposition to war from 
traditional religious convictions.''
    In the context of this particular Mandate, it is also worth noting 
that, in Hobby Lobby, Justice Ginsburg (joined, in this part of the 
opinion, by Justices Breyer, Kagan, and Sotomayor), cited Justice 
Harlan's opinion in Welsh, 398 U.S. at 357-58, in support of her 
statement that ``[s]eparating moral convictions from religious beliefs 
would be of questionable legitimacy.'' 134 S. Ct. at 2789 n.6. In 
quoting this passage, the Departments do not mean to suggest that all 
laws protecting only religious beliefs constitute an illegitimate 
``separat[ion]'' of moral convictions, nor do the Departments assert 
that moral convictions must always be protected alongside religious 
beliefs; we also do not agree with Justice Harlan that distinguishing 
between religious and moral objections would violate the Establishment 
Clause. Instead, the Departments believe that, in the specific health 
care context implicated here, providing respect for moral convictions 
parallel to the respect afforded to religious beliefs is appropriate, 
draws from long-standing Federal Government practice, and shares common 
ground with Congress's intent in the Church Amendments and in later 
federal statutes that provide protections for moral convictions 
alongside religious beliefs in other health care contexts.
c. Conscience Protections in Other Federal and State Contexts
    The tradition of protecting moral convictions in certain health 
contexts is not limited to laws passed by Congress. Multiple federal 
regulations protect objections based on moral convictions in such 
contexts.\16\ Other federal regulations have also applied the principle 
of respecting moral convictions alongside religious beliefs in 
particular circumstances. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission 
has consistently protected ``moral or ethical beliefs as to what is 
right and wrong which are sincerely held with the strength of 
traditional religious views'' alongside religious views under the 
``standard [ ] developed in United States v. Seeger, 380 U.S. 163 
(1965) and [Welsh].'' 29 CFR 1605.1. The Department of Justice has 
declared that, in cases of capital punishment, no officer or employee 
may be required to attend or participate if doing so ``is contrary to 
the moral or religious convictions of the officer or employee, or if 
the employee is a medical professional who considers such participation 
or attendance contrary to medical ethics.'' 28 CFR 26.5.\17\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \16\ See, for example, 42 CFR 422.206 (declaring that the 
general Medicare Advantage rule ``does not require the MA plan to 
cover, furnish, or pay for a particular counseling or referral 
service if the MA organization that offers the plan--(1) Objects to 
the provision of that service on moral or religious grounds.''); 42 
CFR 438.102 (declaring that information requirements do not apply 
``if the MCO, PIHP, or PAHP objects to the service on moral or 
religious grounds''); 48 CFR 1609.7001 (``health plan sponsoring 
organizations are not required to discuss treatment options that 
they would not ordinarily discuss in their customary course of 
practice because such options are inconsistent with their 
professional judgment or ethical, moral or religious beliefs.''); 48 
CFR 352.270-9 (``Non-Discrimination for Conscience'' clause for 
organizations receiving HIV or Malaria relief funds).
    \17\ See also 18 CFR 214.11 (where a law enforcement agency 
(LEA) seeks assistance in the investigation or prosecution of 
trafficking of persons, the reasonableness of the LEA's request will 
depend in part on ``[c]ultural, religious, or moral objections to 
the request'').
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Forty-five states have health care conscience protections covering 
objections to abortion; several of these also cover sterilization or 
contraception.\18\ Most of those state laws protect objections based on 
``moral,'' ``ethical,'' or ``conscientious'' grounds in addition to 
``religious'' grounds. Particularly in the case of abortion, some 
federal and state conscience laws do not require any specified motive 
for the objection. 42 U.S.C. 238n; Consolidated Appropriations, 2018, 
Public Law 115-141, Div. H, section 507(d).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \18\ According to the Guttmacher Institute, 45 states have 
conscience statutes pertaining to abortion (43 of which cover 
institutions), 18 have conscience statutes pertaining to 
sterilization (16 of which cover institutions), and 12 have 
conscience statutes pertaining to contraception (8 of which cover 
institutions). ``Refusing to Provide Health Services,'' The 
Guttmacher Institute (June 1, 2017), https://www.guttmacher.org/state-policy/explore/refusing-provide-health-services.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    These various statutes and regulations reflect an important 
governmental interest in protecting moral convictions in appropriate 
health contexts. The contraceptive Mandate implicates that governmental 
interest. Many persons and entities object to the Mandate in part 
because they consider some forms of FDA-approved contraceptives to be 
morally equivalent to abortion due to the possibility that such items 
may prevent the implantation of a human embryo after fertilization.\19\ 
The Supreme Court, in describing family business owners with religious 
objections, explained that ``[t]he owners of the businesses have 
religious objections to abortion, and according to their religious 
beliefs the four contraceptive methods at issue are abortifacients. If 
the owners comply with the HHS mandate, they believe they will be 
facilitating abortions.'' Hobby Lobby, 134 S. Ct. at 2751. Based on 
pleadings in the litigation, all of the litigants challenging the 
Mandate and asserting purely non-religious objections share this view. 
And as Congress has implicitly recognized in providing health care 
conscience protections pertaining to sterilization, contraception, and 
other health care services and practices, individuals or entities may 
have additional moral objections to contraception.\20\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \19\ FDA, ``Birth Control,'' U.S. Food and Drug Administration 
(Mar. 6, 2018), https://www.fda.gov/forconsumers/byaudience/forwomen/freepublications/ucm313215.htm (various approved 
contraceptives, including Levonorgestrel, Ulipristal Acetate, and 
IUDs, work mainly by preventing fertilization, but ``may also work . 
. . by preventing attachment (implantation) to the womb (uterus)'' 
of a human embryo after fertilization).
    \20\ See supra note 1.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

d. Founding Principles
    The Departments also look to guidance from, and draw support for 
the Moral IFC and these final rules from, the broader history of 
respect for conscience in the laws and founding principles of the 
United States. Members of Congress specifically relied on the American 
tradition of respect for conscience when they decided to protect moral 
convictions in health care. In supporting the protection of conscience 
based on non-religious moral convictions, Senator Buckley declared 
``[i]t has been a traditional concept in our society from the earliest 
times that the right of conscience, like the paramount right to life 
from which it is derived, is sacred.'' Representative Heckler similarly 
stated that ``the right of moral conscience . . . has always been a 
part of our national tradition.'' This tradition is reflected, for 
example, in a letter President George Washington wrote saying that 
``[t]he Citizens of the United States of America have a right to 
applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an enlarged 
and liberal policy: A policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike 
liberty of conscience and immunities of

[[Page 57602]]

citizenship.'' \21\ Thomas Jefferson similarly declared that ``[n]o 
provision in our Constitution ought to be dearer to man than that which 
protects the rights of conscience against the enterprises of the civil 
authority.'' \22\ Although these statements by Presidents Washington 
and Jefferson were spoken to religious congregations, and although 
religious and moral conscience were tightly intertwined for the 
Founders, they both reflect a broad principle of respect for conscience 
against government coercion. James Madison likewise called conscience 
``the most sacred of all property,'' and proposed that the Bill of 
Rights should guarantee, in addition to protecting religious belief and 
worship, that ``the full and equal rights of conscience [shall not] be 
in any manner, or on any pretext infringed.'' \23\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \21\ Letter from George Washington to the Hebrew Congregation in 
Newport, Rhode Island (Aug. 18, 1790) (available at https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-06-02-0135).
    \22\ Letter to the Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church at 
New London, Connecticut (February 4, 1809) (available at https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/99-01-02-9714).
    \23\ James Madison, ``Essay on Property'' (March 29, 1792); 
First draft of the First Amendment, 1 Annals of Congress 434 (June 
8, 1789).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    These Founding Era statements of general principle do not specify 
how they would be applied in a particular health care context, and the 
Departments do not suggest that the specific protections offered in the 
Moral IFC and these final rules would be required or necessarily 
appropriate in any other context that does not raise the specific 
concerns implicated by this Mandate. These final rules do not address 
in any way how the Government would balance its interests with respect 
to other health services not encompassed by the contraceptive 
Mandate.\24\ Instead, the Departments highlight this tradition of 
respect for conscience from the Nation's Founding Era to provide 
background support for the Departments' decision to implement section 
2713(a)(4), while protecting conscience in the exercise of moral 
convictions. The Departments believe that these final rules are 
consistent both with the American tradition of respect for conscience 
and with Congress's history of providing conscience protections in the 
kinds of health care matters involved in this Mandate.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \24\ As the Supreme Court stated in Hobby Lobby, the Court's 
decision concerns only the contraceptive Mandate, and should not be 
understood to hold that all insurance-coverage mandates, for 
example, for vaccinations or blood transfusions, must necessarily 
fail if they conflict with an employer's religious beliefs. Nor does 
the Court's opinion provide a shield for employers who might cloak 
illegal discrimination as a religious (or moral) practice. 134 S. 
Ct. at 2783.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

e. Executive Orders Relevant to These Expanded Exemptions
    Protecting moral convictions, as set forth in these expanded 
exemptions and accommodation in these final rules, is consistent with 
recent executive orders. President Trump's Executive Order concerning 
this Mandate directed the Departments to consider providing 
protections, not specifically for ``religious'' beliefs, but for 
``conscience.'' We interpret that term to include both religious 
beliefs and moral convictions. Moreover, President Trump's first 
Executive Order, E.O. 13765, declared that ``the Secretary of Health 
and Human Services (Secretary) and the heads of all other executive 
departments and agencies (agencies) with authorities and 
responsibilities under the [ACA] shall exercise all authority and 
discretion available to them to waive, defer, grant exemptions from, or 
delay the implementation of any provision or requirement of the Act 
that would impose a fiscal burden on any state or a cost, fee, tax, 
penalty, or regulatory burden on individuals, families, healthcare 
providers, health insurers, patients, recipients of healthcare 
services, purchasers of health insurance, or makers of medical devices, 
products, or medications.'' The exemption and accommodation adopted in 
these final rules relieves a regulatory burden imposed on entities with 
moral convictions opposed to providing certain contraceptive coverage 
and is therefore consistent with both Executive Orders.
f. Litigation Concerning the Mandate
    The Departments have further taken into consideration the 
litigation surrounding the Mandate in exercising their discretion to 
adopt the exemption in these final rules. Among the lawsuits 
challenging the Mandate, two have been filed based in part on non-
religious moral convictions. In one case, the Departments are subject 
to a permanent injunction requiring us to respect the non-religious 
moral objections of an employer. See March for Life v. Burwell, 128 F. 
Supp. 3d 116 (D.D.C. 2015). In the other case, an appeals court 
affirmed a district court ruling that allows the previous regulations 
to be imposed in a way that affects the moral convictions of a small 
nonprofit pro-life organization and its employees. See Real 
Alternatives v. Sec'y, Dep't of Health & Human Servs., 867 F.3d 338 (3d 
Cir. 2017). The Departments' litigation of these cases has thus led to 
inconsistent court rulings, consumed substantial governmental 
resources, and created uncertainty for objecting organizations, 
issuers, third party administrators, and employees and beneficiaries. 
The organizations that have sued seeking a moral exemption have adopted 
longstanding moral tenets opposed to certain FDA-approved 
contraceptives, and hire only employees who share this view. As a 
result, it is reasonable to conclude that employees of these 
organizations would not benefit from the Mandate. Thus, subjecting this 
subset of organizations to the Mandate does not advance any 
governmental interest. The need to resolve this litigation and the 
potential concerns of similar entities, as well as the legal 
requirement to comply with permanent injunctive relief currently 
imposed in March for Life, provide substantial reasons for the 
Departments to protect moral convictions through these final rules. 
Although, as discussed below, the Departments assume the number of 
entities and individuals that may seek exemption from the Mandate on 
the basis of moral convictions, as these two sets of litigants did, 
will be small, the Departments know from the litigation that it will 
not be zero. As a result, the Departments have taken these types of 
objections into consideration in reviewing our regulations. Having done 
so, the Departments consider it appropriate to issue the protections 
set forth in these final rules. Just as Congress, in adopting the early 
provisions of the Church Amendments, viewed it as necessary and 
appropriate to protect those organizations and individuals with 
objections to certain health care services on the basis of moral 
convictions, so the Departments, too, believe that ``our moral 
convictions as well as our religious beliefs, warrant protection from 
this intrusion by the Government'' in this situation. See 119 Congr. 
Rec. S5717-18.
    The litigation concerning the Mandate has also underscored how 
important it is for the Government to tread carefully when engaging in 
regulation concerning sensitive health care areas. As demonstrated by 
the litigation, as well as the public comments, various citizens 
sincerely hold moral convictions, which are not necessarily religious, 
against providing or participating in coverage of contraceptive items 
included in the Mandate, and some believe that certain contraceptive 
items may cause early abortions. Providing conscience protections 
advances the ACA's goal of expanding health coverage among entities and 
individuals that might otherwise be reluctant to participate in the 
market. For example, the Supreme Court in Hobby Lobby declared that, if 
HHS requires owners of businesses to

[[Page 57603]]

cover procedures that the owners ``could not in good conscience'' 
cover, such as abortion, ``HHS would effectively exclude these people 
from full participation in the economic life of the Nation.'' 134 S. 
Ct. at 2783. That sort of outcome is one the Departments wish to avoid. 
The Departments wish to implement the contraceptive coverage Guidelines 
issued under section 2713(a)(4) in a way that respects the moral 
convictions of Americans so that they are freer to engage in ``full 
participation in the economic life of the Nation.'' The exemptions in 
these final rules do so by removing an obstacle that might otherwise 
lead entities or individuals with moral objections to contraceptive 
coverage to choose not to sponsor or participate in health plans if 
they include such coverage.
3. Whether Moral Exemptions Should Exist, and Whom They Should Cover
    As noted above, the Department received comments expressing diverse 
views as to whether exemptions based on moral convictions should exist 
and, if so, whom they should cover.
    Some commenters supported the expanded exemptions and accommodation 
in the Moral IFC, and the choice of entities and individuals to which 
they applied. They stated the expanded exemptions and accommodation 
would be an appropriate exercise of discretion and would be consistent 
with moral exemptions Congress has provided in many similar contexts. 
Similarly, commenters stated that the accommodation would be an 
inadequate means to resolve moral objections and that the expanded 
exemptions are needed. They contended that the accommodation process 
was objectionable because it was another method of complying with the 
Mandate, its self-certification or notice involved triggering the very 
contraceptive coverage that organizations objected to, and the coverage 
for contraceptive services ``hijacked'' or flowed in connection with 
the objecting organizations' health plans. The commenters contended 
that the seamlessness cited by the Departments between contraceptive 
coverage and an accommodated plan gives rise to moral objections that 
organizations would not have with an expanded exemption. Commenters 
also stated that, with respect to non-profit organizations that have 
moral objections and only hire persons who agree with those objections, 
the Mandate serves no legitimate government interest because the 
mandated coverage is neither wanted nor used and, therefore, would 
yield no benefits--it would only suppress the existence of non-profit 
organizations holding those views.
    Several other commenters stated that the exemptions were still too 
narrow. They asked that the exemptions set forth in these final rules 
be as broad as the exemptions set forth in the Religious IFC concerning 
sincerely held religious beliefs. Some of these commenters also asked 
that HHS withdraw its Mandate of contraceptive coverage from the 
Guidelines entirely. They contended that fertility and pregnancy are 
generally healthy conditions, not diseases that are appropriately the 
target of a preventive health service; that contraceptives can pose 
medical risks for women; and that studies do not show that 
contraceptive programs reduce abortion rates or unintended pregnancies. 
Some commented that many women report that they sought an abortion 
because their contraception failed. Some other commenters contended 
that, to the extent the Guidelines require coverage of certain drugs 
and devices that may prevent implantation of an embryo after 
fertilization, they require coverage of items that are abortifacient 
and, therefore, violate federal conscience protections such as the 
Weldon Amendment, Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2017, Public Law 
115-31, Div. H, Sec.  507(d).
    Other commenters contended that the exemptions in the Moral IFC 
were too broad. Some of these commenters expressed concern about the 
prospect of publicly traded for-profit entities also being afforded a 
moral exemption. One such commenter commented that allowing publicly 
traded for-profit entities a moral exemption could cause instability 
and confusion, as leadership changes at such a corporation may 
effectively change the corporation's eligibility for a moral exemption. 
Still others stated that the Departments should not exempt various 
kinds of entities such as businesses, issuers, or nonprofit entities, 
arguing that only individuals, not entities, can possess moral 
convictions. Some commenters were concerned that providing moral 
exemptions would contribute to population growth and related societal 
woes. Other commenters contended the exemptions and accommodation 
should not be expanded, but should remain the same as they were in the 
July 2015 final regulations (80 FR 41318), which did not encompass 
moral convictions. Other commenters stated that the Departments should 
not provide exemptions, but merely an accommodation process, to resolve 
moral objections to the Mandate.
    Some commenters objected to providing any exemption or 
accommodation for moral objections at all. Some of these commenters 
contended that even the previous regulations allowing an exemption and 
accommodation were too broad and that no exemptions to the Mandate 
should exist, in order that contraceptive coverage would be provided to 
as many women as possible. Other commenters did not go that far, but 
rejected the idea of exemptions or an accommodation based on moral 
convictions, contending that such exemptions or accommodation would 
contribute to population growth and related social woes. Some of these 
commenters also contended that the exemption in the Moral IFC would 
constitute an exemption covering every business and non-profit 
organization.
    After considering these comments, and although the previous 
Administration declined to afford any exemption based on moral 
convictions, the Departments have concluded that it is appropriate to 
provide moral exemptions and access to the accommodation, as set forth 
in these final rules. Congress did not mandate contraceptive coverage, 
nor provide any explicit guidance about incorporating conscience 
exemptions into the Guidelines. But as noted above, it is a long-
standing Congressional practice to provide consistent exemptions for 
both religious beliefs and moral convictions in many federal statutes 
in the health care context, and specifically concerning issues such as 
abortion, sterilization, and contraception. It is not clear to the 
Departments that, if Congress had expressly mandated contraceptive 
coverage in the ACA, it would have done so without providing for 
similar exemptions. Therefore, the Departments consider it appropriate, 
to the extent we impose a contraceptive Mandate by the exercise of 
agency discretion, that we also include an exemption for the protection 
of moral convictions in certain cases. The exemptions finalized in 
these final rules are generally consistent with the scope of exemptions 
that Congress has established in similar contexts. As noted above, the 
Departments consider the exemptions in these final rules consistent 
with the intent of Executive Order 13535. The Departments also wish to 
avoid the stark disparity that may result from respecting religious 
objections to providing contraceptive coverage among certain entities 
and individuals, but not respecting parallel objections for moral 
convictions possessed by any entities and

[[Page 57604]]

individuals at all because those objections are not specifically 
religious.
    In addition, the Departments note that a significant majority of 
states either impose no contraceptive coverage requirement or offer 
broader exemptions than the exemption contained in the July 2015 final 
regulations.\25\ Although the practice of states is by no means a limit 
on the discretion delegated to HRSA by the ACA, nor a statement about 
what the Federal Government may do consistent with other limitations in 
federal law, such state practices can inform the Departments' view that 
it is appropriate to provide conscience protections when exercising 
agency discretion.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \25\ See ``Insurance Coverage of Contraceptives,'' The 
Guttmacher Institute (June 11, 2018), https://www.guttmacher.org/state-policy/explore/insurance-coverage-contraceptives.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The Departments decline to use these final rules to remove the 
contraceptive Mandate altogether, such as by declaring that HHS acting 
through HRSA shall not include contraceptives in the list of women's 
preventive services in Guidelines issued under section 2713(a)(4). 
HRSA's Guidelines were not issued, ratified, or updated through the 
regulations that preceded the Moral IFC and these final rules. Those 
Guidelines were issued in separate processes in 2011 and 2016, directly 
by HRSA, after consultation with external organizations that operated 
under cooperative agreements with HRSA to consider the issue, solicit 
public comment, and provide recommendations. The regulations preceding 
these final rules attempted only to restate the statutory language of 
section 2713 in regulatory form, and delineate what exemptions and 
accommodations would apply if HRSA listed contraceptives in its 
Guidelines. We decline to use these final rules to direct the separate 
process that HRSA uses to determine what specific services are listed 
in the Guidelines generally. Some commenters stated that if 
contraceptives are not removed from the Guidelines entirely, entities 
or individuals with moral objections might not qualify for the 
exemptions or accommodation. As discussed below, however, the 
exemptions in these rules include a broad range of entities and 
individuals of whom we have notice may object based on moral 
convictions. The Departments are not aware of specific employers or 
individuals whose moral convictions would still be violated by 
compliance with the Mandate after the issuance of the Moral IFC and 
these final rules.
    Some commenters stated that HRSA should remove contraceptives from 
the Guidelines because the Guidelines have not been subject to the 
notice and comment process under the Administrative Procedure Act. Some 
commenters also contended that the Guidelines should be amended to omit 
items that may prevent (or possibly dislodge) the implantation of a 
human embryo after fertilization, in order to ensure consistency with 
conscience provisions that prohibit requiring plans to pay for or cover 
abortions. Whether and to what extent the Guidelines continue to list 
contraceptives, or items considered to prevent implantation of an 
embryo, for entities not subject to exemptions and an accommodation, 
and what process is used to include those items in the Guidelines, is 
outside the scope of these final rules. These final rules focus on what 
moral exemptions and accommodation shall apply if Guidelines issued 
under section 2713(a)(4) include contraceptives or items considered to 
be abortifacient.
    Members of the public that support or oppose the inclusion of some 
or all contraceptives in the Guidelines, or wish to comment concerning 
the content and process of developing and updating the Guidelines, are 
welcome to communicate their views to HRSA, at [email protected].
    The Departments also conclude that it would be inadequate to merely 
attempt to amend or expand the accommodation process to account for 
moral objectors, instead of providing the exemptions. In the past, the 
Departments stated in our regulations and court briefs that the 
previous accommodation required contraceptive coverage in a way that is 
``seamless'' with the coverage provided by the objecting employer. As a 
result, in significant respects, the accommodation process did not 
actually accommodate the objections of many entities, as indicated by 
many entities with religious objections. The Departments have attempted 
to identify an accommodation that would eliminate the religious 
plaintiffs' objections, including seeking public comment through a 
Request For Information, 81 FR 47741 (July 26, 2016), but stated in 
January 2017 that we were unable to develop such an approach at that 
time.\26\ Just as the Departments continue to believe merely amending 
the accommodation process would not adequately address religious 
objections to compliance with the Mandate, we do not believe doing so 
would adequately address similar moral objections. Furthermore, the few 
litigants raising non-religious moral objections have been non-profit 
organizations that assert they only hire persons who share the 
employers' objection to contraceptive coverage. Consequently, the 
Departments conclude that the most appropriate approach to resolve 
these concerns is to provide the exemptions set forth in the Moral IFC 
and these final rules. These final rules also finalize the 
modifications to the accommodation process to make it available to 
entities with moral objections, without forcing such entities to choose 
between compliance with either the Mandate or the accommodation.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \26\ See Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and 
the Treasury, FAQs About Affordable Care Act Implementation Part 36, 
(Jan. 9, 2017), https://www.dol.gov/sites/default/files/ebsa/about-ebsa/our-activities/resource-center/faqs/aca-part-36.pdf and https://www.cms.gov/CCIIO/Resources/Fact-Sheets-and-FAQs/Downloads/ACA-FAQs-Part36_1-9-17-Final.pdf (``the comments reviewed by the 
Departments in response to the RFI indicate that no feasible 
approach has been identified at this time that would resolve the 
concerns of religious objectors, while still ensuring that the 
affected women receive full and equal health coverage, including 
contraceptive coverage'').
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Some commenters expressed concern over the lack of a definition of 
``moral convictions'' in the Moral IFC, arguing that, without a 
definition, any objection could be encompassed by the exemptions even 
if it is not based on moral convictions. The Departments did not adopt 
a regulatory definition of ``moral convictions'' in the Moral IFC, and 
have decided not to adopt such a definition in response to public 
comments at this time. Nevertheless, the Departments look to the 
description of moral convictions in Welsh to help explain the scope of 
the protection provided in the Moral IFC and these final rules. Neither 
these final rules or the Moral IFC, nor the Church Amendments or other 
Federal health care conscience statutes, define ``moral convictions'' 
(nor do they define ``religious beliefs''). But in issuing these final 
rules, we adopt the same background understanding of that term that is 
reflected in the Congressional Record in 1973, in which legislators 
referenced cases such as Welsh to support the addition of language 
protecting moral convictions. In protecting moral convictions in 
parallel to religious beliefs, Welsh describes moral convictions 
warranting such protection as ones: (1) That the ``individual deeply 
and sincerely holds''; (2) ``that are purely ethical or moral in source 
and content''; (3) ``but that nevertheless impose upon him a duty''; 
(4) and that ``certainly occupy in the life of that individual a place 
parallel to that filled by . . . God' in traditionally religious 
persons,'' such

[[Page 57605]]

that one could say ``his beliefs function as a religion in his life.'' 
398 U.S. at 339-40. As recited above, Senators Church and Nelson agreed 
that protections for such moral convictions would not encompass an 
objection that an individual or entity raises ``capriciously.'' 
Instead, along with the requirement that protected moral convictions 
must be ``sincerely held,'' this understanding cabins the protection of 
moral convictions in contexts where they occupy a place parallel to 
that filled by sincerely held religious beliefs in religious persons 
and organizations.
    While moral convictions are the sort of principles that, in the 
life of an individual, occupy a place parallel to religion, sincerely 
held moral convictions can also be adopted by corporate bodies, not 
merely by individuals. Senators Church and Nelson, while discussing the 
fact that opposition to abortion or sterilization on the basis of 
``moral questions'' does not include capricious opposition to abortion 
for no reason at all, were specifically talking about opposition to 
abortion by corporate entities: A ``hospital board, or whatever the 
ruling agency for the hospital was, a governing agency or otherwise.'' 
\27\ Corporate bodies operate by the decision-making actions of 
individuals. Thus, if individuals act in the governance of a corporate 
body so as to adopt a position for that body of adopting moral 
convictions against coverage of contraceptives, such an entity can be 
considered to have an objection to contraceptive coverage on the basis 
of sincerely held moral convictions.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \27\ Nor was this recognition of the need to protect 
organizations that object to performance of certain health care 
procedures on the basis of moral conviction limited to the Church 
Amendments' legislative history. The first of the Church Amendments 
provides, in part, that the receipt of certain federal funds ``by 
any individual or entity does not authorize any court or any public 
official or other public authority to require-- . . . (2) such 
entity to--(A) make its facilities available for the performance of 
any sterilization procedure or abortion if the performance of such 
procedure or abortion in such facilities is prohibited by the entity 
on the basis of religious beliefs or moral convictions, or (B) 
provide any personnel for the performance or assistance in the 
performance of any sterilization procedure or abortion if the 
performance or assistance in the performance of such procedures or 
abortion by such personnel would be contrary to the religious 
beliefs or moral convictions of such personnel.'' 42 U.S.C. 300a-
7(b).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

4. The Departments' Rebalancing of Government Interests
    The Departments also received comments on their rebalancing of 
interests as expressed and referenced in the Moral IFC. Some public 
commenters agreed with the Departments' conclusion that our interest in 
ensuring contraceptive coverage does not preclude the Departments from 
offering exemptions and an accommodation for entities, plans, and 
individuals with a qualifying objection to contraceptive coverage based 
on moral convictions. Some public commenters pointed out that 
protecting moral convictions serves to respect not only the interests 
of certain persons to access contraceptives, but also the interests of 
other persons to participate in a health coverage market consistent 
with their moral convictions. Other commenters disagreed with this 
rebalancing, and contended that the interest of women in receiving 
contraceptive coverage without cost-sharing is so great that it 
overrides private interests to the contrary, such that the government 
should or must force private entities to provide this coverage to other 
private citizens.
    The Departments agree with the commenters who stated that the 
governmental interest in requiring contraceptive coverage does not 
override the interest in protecting moral convictions and does not make 
these expanded exemptions inappropriate. For additional discussion of 
the Government's balance of interests as applicable to religious 
beliefs, see section II.C.2.b. of the companion final rules concerning 
religious exemptions published by the Departments contemporaneously 
with these final rules elsewhere in today's Federal Register. There, 
and in the Religious and Moral IFCs, the Departments acknowledged the 
reasons why the Departments have changed the policies and 
interpretations previously adopted with respect to the Mandate and the 
governmental interests underlying it. For parallel reasons, the 
Departments believe the Government's legitimate interests in providing 
for contraceptive coverage do not require the Departments to violate 
sincerely held moral convictions while implementing the Guidelines. The 
Departments likewise believe Congress did not set forth interests that 
require us to violate sincerely held moral convictions if we otherwise 
require contraceptive coverage in our discretionary implementation of 
the women's preventive services Guidelines under section 2713(a)(4).
    The Departments acknowledge that coverage of contraception is an 
important and highly controversial issue, implicating many different 
views, as reflected for example in the public comments received on 
multiple rulemakings over the course of implementation of section 
2713(a)(4), added to the PHS Act in 2010. The Departments' expansion of 
conscience protections for moral convictions, similar to protections 
contained in numerous statutes governing health care regulation, is not 
taken lightly. However, after considering public comments on various 
sides of the issue, and reconsidering the interests served by the 
Mandate in this particular context, the objections raised, and the 
relevant federal law, the Departments have determined that affording 
the exemptions to protect moral convictions is a more appropriate 
administrative response than continuing to refuse to extend the 
exemptions and accommodations to certain entities and individuals for 
whom the Mandate violates their sincerely held moral convictions. 
Although the number of organizations and individuals that may seek to 
invoke these exemptions and accommodation may be small, the Departments 
believe that it is important to provide such protection, given the 
long-standing recognition of such protections in law and regulation in 
the health care and health insurance contexts. The Moral IFC and these 
final rules leave unchanged HRSA's authority to decide whether to 
include contraceptives in the women's preventive services Guidelines 
for entities that are not exempted by law, regulation, or the 
Guidelines. These rules also do not change the many other mechanisms by 
which the Government advances contraceptive coverage, particularly for 
low-income women, including through such programs as Medicaid and Title 
X. The Departments also note that the exemptions created here, like the 
exemptions created by the previous Administration, do not burden third 
parties to a degree that counsels against providing the exemptions, as 
discussed below.
5. Burdens on Third Parties
    The Department received a variety of comments about the effect that 
the exemptions and accommodation based on moral convictions would have 
on third parties. Some commenters stated that the exemptions and 
accommodation do not impose an impermissible or unjustified burden on 
third parties, including on women who might otherwise receive 
contraceptive coverage with no cost sharing. Other commenters 
disagreed, asserting that the exemptions unacceptably burden women who 
might lose contraceptive coverage as a result. They contended the 
exemptions may remove contraceptive coverage, causing women to have 
higher contraceptive costs, fewer contraceptive options, less ability 
to use contraceptives more consistently, more

[[Page 57606]]

unintended pregnancies,\28\ births spaced more closely, and workplace, 
economic, or societal inequality. Still other commenters took the view 
that other laws or protections, such as in the First or Fifth 
Amendments, prohibit the expanded exemptions, which those commenters 
view as prioritizing conscientious objection of exempted entities over 
the conscience, choices, or religious liberty of women who would not 
receive contraceptive coverage where an exemption is used. Some 
commenters disagreed and said the exemptions do not violate laws and 
constitutional protections, nor do they inappropriately prioritize the 
conscience of exempted entities over those of third parties.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \28\ Some commenters attempted to quantify the costs of 
unintended pregnancy, but were unable to provide estimates with 
regard to the number of women that this exemption may affect.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The Departments note that the exemptions in the Moral IFC and these 
final rules, like the exemptions created by the previous 
Administration, do not impermissibly burden third parties. Initially, 
the Departments observe that these rules do not create a governmental 
burden; rather, they relieve a governmental burden. The ACA did not 
impose a contraceptive coverage requirement. Agency discretion was 
exercised to include contraceptives in the Guidelines issued under 
section 2713(a)(4). That decision is what created and imposed a 
governmental burden. These rules simply relieve part of that 
governmental burden. If some third parties do not receive contraceptive 
coverage from private parties whom the government chooses not to 
coerce, that result exists in the absence of governmental action--it is 
not a result the government has imposed. Calling that result a 
governmental burden rests on an incorrect presumption: That the 
government has an obligation to force private parties to benefit those 
third parties, and that the third parties have a right to those 
benefits. Congress did not create a right to receive contraceptive 
coverage from other private citizens through section 2713 of the PHS 
Act, other portions of the ACA, or any other statutes it has enacted. 
Although some commenters also contended such a right might exist under 
treaties the Senate has ratified or the Constitution, the Departments 
are not aware of any source demonstrating that the Constitution or a 
treaty ratified by the Senate creates a right to receive contraceptive 
coverage from other private citizens.
    The fact that the government at one time exercised its 
administrative discretion to require private parties to provide 
coverage to which they morally object, to benefit other private 
parties, does not prevent the government from relieving some or all of 
the burden of that Mandate. Otherwise, any governmental coverage 
requirement would be a one-way ratchet. In the Moral IFC and these 
final rules, the government has simply restored a zone of freedom where 
it once existed. There is no statutory or constitutional obstacle to 
the government doing so, and the doctrine of third party burdens should 
not be interpreted to impose such an obstacle. Such an interpretation 
would be especially problematic given the millions of women, in a 
variety of contexts, whom the Mandate does not ultimately benefit, 
notwithstanding any expanded exemptions--including through the 
grandfathering of plans, the previous religious exemptions, and the 
failure of the accommodation to require delivery of contraceptive 
coverage in various self-insured church plan contexts.
    In addition, the Government is under no constitutional obligation 
to fund contraception. Cf. Harris v. McRae, 448 U.S. 297 (1980) 
(holding that, although the Supreme Court has recognized a 
constitutional right to abortion, there is no constitutional obligation 
for government to pay for abortions). Even more so may the government 
refrain from requiring private citizens, in violation of their moral 
convictions, to cover contraception for other citizens. Cf. Rust v. 
Sullivan, 500 U.S. 173, 192-93 (1991) (``A refusal to fund protected 
activity, without more, cannot be equated with the imposition of a 
`penalty' on that activity.''). The constitutional rights of liberty 
and privacy do not require the government to force private parties to 
provide contraception to other citizens and do not prohibit the 
government from protecting moral objections to such governmental 
mandates, especially where, as here, the Mandate is not an explicit 
statutory requirement.\29\ The Departments do not believe that the 
Constitution prohibits offering the expanded exemptions in these rules.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \29\ See, for example, Planned Parenthood Ariz., Inc. v. Am. 
Ass'n of Pro-Life Obstetricians & Gynecologists, 257 P.3d 181, 196 
(Ariz. Ct. App. 2011) (``[A] woman's right to an abortion or to 
contraception does not compel a private person or entity to 
facilitate either.'').
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Some commenters objected that the exemptions would violate the 
Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The Moral IFC and these 
final rules create exemptions for moral convictions, not religious 
beliefs, and they do so for the same neutral purposes for which 
Congress has created similar exemptions for over four decades. Not only 
do these final rules not violate the Establishment Clause, but the 
Departments' decision to provide the exemptions and accommodation for 
moral convictions, instead of limiting the exemptions to identical 
objections based on religious beliefs, further demonstrates that 
neither the purpose nor the effect of these exemptions is to establish 
religion. The Establishment Clause does not force the Department to 
impose a contraceptive Mandate in violation of the moral convictions of 
entities and individuals protected by these rules.
    American governmental bodies have, in many instances, refrained 
from requiring certain private parties to cover contraceptive services 
for other private parties. From 1789 through 2012 (when HRSA's 
Guidelines went into effect), there was no federal women's preventive 
services coverage mandate imposed nationally on health insurance and 
group health plans. The ACA did not require contraceptives to be 
included in HRSA's Guidelines, and it did not require any preventive 
services required under section 2713 of the PHS Act to be covered by 
grandfathered plans. Many states do not impose contraceptive coverage 
mandates, or they offer religious, and in some cases moral, exemptions 
to the requirements of such coverage mandates--exemptions that have not 
been invalidated by federal or state courts. The Departments, in 
previous regulations, exempted houses of worship and integrated 
auxiliaries from the Mandate. The Departments then issued a temporary 
enforcement safe harbor allowing religious nonprofit groups to not 
provide contraceptive coverage under the Mandate for almost two 
additional years. The Departments further expanded the houses of 
worship and integrated auxiliaries exemption through definitional 
changes. And the Departments created an accommodation process under 
which many women in self-insured church plans may not ultimately 
receive contraceptive coverage. The Departments are not aware of 
federal courts declaring that the exemptions, safe harbor, or 
accommodations gave rise to third party burdens that required the 
government to mandate contraceptive coverage by entities eligible for 
an exemption or accommodation. In addition, many organizations have not 
been subject to the Mandate in practice because of injunctions they 
received through litigation, protecting them from federal imposition of 
the Mandate, including

[[Page 57607]]

under several recently entered permanent injunctions that will apply 
regardless of the issuance of these final rules.
    Commenters offered various assessments of the impact these rules 
might have on state or local governments. Some commenters stated that 
the expanded exemptions will not burden state or local governments, or 
that such burdens should not prevent the Departments from offering 
those exemptions. Others commenters stated that if the Departments 
provide expanded exemptions, states or local jurisdictions may face 
higher costs in providing birth control to women through government 
programs. The Departments consider it appropriate to offer expanded 
exemptions, notwithstanding the objection of some state or local 
governments. Until 2012, there was no federal mandate of contraceptive 
coverage across health insurance and health plans nationwide. The ACA 
did not require a contraceptive Mandate, and its discretionary creation 
by means of HRSA's Guidelines does not translate to a benefit that the 
federal government owes to state or local governments. The various 
situations recited in the previous paragraph, in which the federal 
government has not imposed contraceptive coverage, have not been deemed 
to cause a cognizable injury to state or local governments. The 
Departments find no legal prohibition on finalizing these final rules 
based on the allegation of an impact on state or local governments, and 
disagree with the suggestion that once having exercised our discretion 
to deny exemptions--no matter how recently or incompletely--the 
Departments cannot change course if some state and local governments 
believe they are receiving indirect benefits from the previous 
decision.
    In addition, the exemptions at issue here are available only to a 
tiny fraction of entities to which the Mandate would otherwise apply--
those with qualifying moral objections. Public comments did not provide 
reliable data on how many entities would use these expanded moral 
exemptions, in which states women in those plans would reside, how many 
of those women would qualify for or use state and local government 
subsidies of contraceptives as a result, or in which states such women, 
if they are low income, would go without contraceptives and potentially 
experience unintended pregnancies that state Medicaid programs would 
potentially have to cover. As noted below, at least one study \30\ has 
concluded the Mandate caused no clear increase in contraceptive use; 
one explanation proposed by the authors of the study is that women 
eligible for family planning from safety net programs were already 
receiving free or subsidized contraceptive access through them, 
notwithstanding the Mandate's effects on the overall market. Some 
commenters who opposed the exemptions admitted that this information is 
unclear at this stage; other commenters that estimated considerably 
more individuals and entities would seek an exemption also admitted the 
difficulty of quantifying estimates. In addition, the only entities 
that have brought suit based on their moral objections to the Mandate 
are non-profit entities that have said they only hire persons who share 
their objections and do not use the contraceptives to which their 
employers object, so it is unlikely that exemptions for those entities 
would have any impact on safety net programs. Below, we predict that a 
small number of additional nonprofit and closely held for-profit 
entities will use the exemptions based on moral convictions. In light 
of the limited evidence of third party or state and local government 
impact of these final rules, the Departments consider it an appropriate 
policy option to provide the exemptions.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \30\ M.L. Kavanaugh et al., ``Contraceptive method use in the 
United States: trends and characteristics between 2008, 2012 and 
2014,'', 97 Contraception 14, 14-21 (2018), available at http://www.contraceptionjournal.org/article/S0010-7824(17)30478-X/pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Some commenters contended that the exemptions would constitute 
unlawful sex discrimination, such as under section 1557 of the 
Affordable Care Act, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title 
IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, or the Fifth Amendment. Some 
commenters suggested the expanded exemptions would discriminate on 
bases such as race, disability, or LGBT status, or that they would 
disproportionately burden certain persons in such categories.
    But these rules do not discriminate or draw any distinctions on the 
basis of sex, pregnancy, race, disability, socio-economic class, LGBT 
status, or otherwise, nor do they discriminate on any unlawful grounds. 
The exemptions in these rules do not authorize entities to comply with 
the Mandate for one person, but not for another person, based on that 
person's status as a member of a protected class. Instead, they allow 
entities that have sincerely held moral objections to providing some or 
all contraceptives included in the Mandate to not be forced to provide 
coverage of those items to anyone.
    Those commenters' contentions about discrimination are unpersuasive 
for still additional reasons. First, Title VII is applicable to 
discrimination committed by employers, and these final rules have been 
issued in the government's capacity as a regulator of group health 
plans and group and individual health insurance, not in its capacity as 
an employer. See also In Re Union Pac. R.R. Emp't Practices Litig., 479 
F.3d 936, 940-42 & n.1 (8th Cir. 2007) (holding that Title VII ``does 
not require coverage of contraception because contraception is not a 
gender-specific term like potential pregnancy, but rather applies to 
both men and women''). Second, these rules create no disparate impact. 
The women's preventive service mandate under section 2713(a)(4), and 
the contraceptive Mandate promulgated under such preventive services 
mandate, already inure to the specific benefit of women--men are denied 
any benefit from section 2713(a)(4). Both before and after these rules 
are in effect, section 2713(a)(4) and the Guidelines issued under that 
section treat women's preventive services in general, and female 
contraceptives specifically, more favorably than they treat male 
preventive services or contraceptives.
    It is simply not the case that the government's implementation of 
section 2713(a)(4) is discriminatory against women because exemptions 
encompass moral objections. The previous rules, as discussed elsewhere 
herein, do not require contraceptive coverage in a host of plans, 
including grandfathered plans, plans of houses of worship and 
integrated auxiliaries, and--through inability to enforce the 
accommodation on certain third party administrators--plans of many 
religious non-profits in self-insured church plans. Below, the 
Departments estimate that nearly all women of childbearing age in the 
country will be unaffected by these exemptions. In this context, the 
Departments do not believe that an adjustment to discretionary 
Guidelines for women's preventive services concerning contraceptives 
constitutes unlawful sex discrimination. Otherwise, anytime the 
government exercises its discretion to provide a benefit that is 
specific to women (or specific to men), it would constitute sex 
discrimination for the government to reconsider that benefit. Under 
that theory, Hobby Lobby itself, and RFRA (on which Hobby Lobby's 
holding was based), which provided a religious exemption to this 
Mandate for many businesses, would be deemed discriminatory against 
women

[[Page 57608]]

because the underlying women's preventive services requirement is a 
benefit for women, not for men. Such conclusions are not consistent 
with legal doctrines concerning sex discrimination.
    It is not clear that these expanded exemptions will significantly 
burden women most at risk of unintended pregnancies. Some commenters 
stated that contraceptives are often readily accessible at relatively 
low cost. Other commenters disagreed. Some commenters objected that the 
Moral IFC's estimate of a $584 yearly cost of contraceptives for women 
was too low. But some of those same commenters provided similar 
estimates, citing sources claiming that birth control pills can cost up 
to $600 per year, and stated that IUDs, which can last 3 to 6 years or 
more,\31\ can cost $1,100 (that is, less than $50 per month over the 
duration of use). Some commenters stated that, for lower income women, 
contraceptives and related education and counseling can be available at 
free or low cost through government programs (federal programs offering 
such services include, for example, Medicaid, Title X, community health 
center grants, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)). 
Other commenters contended that many women in employer-sponsored 
coverage might not qualify for those programs, although that sometimes 
occurs because their incomes are above certain thresholds or because 
the programs were not intended to absorb privately covered individuals. 
Some commenters observed that contraceptives may be available through 
other sources, such as a plan of another family member, and that the 
expanded exemptions will not likely encompass a very large segment of 
the population otherwise benefitting from the Mandate. Other commenters 
disagreed, emphasizing that income and eligibility thresholds could 
prevent some women from receiving contraceptives through certain 
government programs if they were no longer covered in their group 
health plans or health insurance plans.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \31\ See, for example, ``IUD,'' Planned Parenthood, https://www.plannedparenthood.org/learn/birth-control/iud.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The Departments do not believe that such differences make it 
inappropriate to issue the expanded exemptions set forth in these 
rules. As explained more fully below, the Departments estimate that 
nearly all women of childbearing age in the country will be unaffected 
by these exemptions. Moreover, the Departments note that the HHS Office 
of Population Affairs, within the Office of the Assistant Secretary for 
Health, has recently issued a proposed rule to amend the regulations 
governing its Title X family planning program. The proposed rule would 
amend the definition of ``low income family''--individuals eligible for 
free or low cost contraceptive services--to include women who are 
unable to obtain certain family planning services under their employer-
sponsored health coverage due to their employers' religious beliefs or 
moral convictions. (83 FR 25502). If that rule is finalized as 
proposed, it would further reduce any potential effect of these final 
rules on women's access to contraceptives.
    Some commenters stated that the expanded exemptions would violate 
section 1554 of the ACA. That section says the Secretary of HHS ``shall 
not promulgate any regulation'' that ``creates any unreasonable 
barriers to the ability of individuals to obtain appropriate medical 
care,'' ``impedes timely access to health care services,'' ``interferes 
with communications regarding a full range of treatment options between 
the patient and the provider,'' ``restricts the ability of health care 
providers to provide full disclosure of all relevant information to 
patients making health care decisions,'' ``violates the principles of 
informed consent and the ethical standards of health care 
professionals,'' or ``limits the availability of health care treatment 
for the full duration of a patient's medical needs.'' 42 U.S.C. 18114. 
Such commenters urged, for example, that the Moral IFC created 
unreasonable barriers to the ability of individuals to obtain 
appropriate medical care, particularly in areas they said may have a 
disproportionately high number of entities likely to take advantage of 
the exemption.
    The Departments disagree with these comments about section 1554 of 
the ACA. The Departments issued previous exemptions and accommodations 
that allowed various plans to not provide contraceptive coverage on the 
basis of religious objections; multiple courts considered those 
regulations; and while many ruled that entities did not need to provide 
contraceptive coverage, none ruled that the exemptions or 
accommodations in the regulations violated section 1554 of the ACA. 
Moreover, the decision not to impose a governmental mandate is not the 
creation of a ``barrier,'' especially when that mandate requires 
private citizens to provide services to other private citizens. This 
would turn the assumptions of the United States' system of government 
on its head. See, for example, U.S. Constitution, Ninth Amendment. 
Section 1554 of the ACA likewise does not require the Departments to 
require coverage of, or to keep in place a requirement to cover, 
certain services, including contraceptives, that was issued pursuant to 
HHS's exercise of discretion under section 2713(a)(4). Nor does section 
1554 of the ACA prohibit the Departments from providing exemptions to 
relieve burdens on moral convictions, or as is the case here, from 
refraining to impose the Mandate in cases where moral convictions would 
be burdened by the Mandate. Moral exemptions from federal mandates in 
certain health contexts, including sterilization, contraception, or 
items believed to be abortifacient, have existed in federal laws for 
decades. Some of those laws were referenced by President Obama in 
signing Executive Order 13535. In light of that Executive Order and 
Congress's long history of providing exemptions for moral convictions 
in the health context, providing moral exemptions is a reasonable 
administrative response to this federally mandated burden, especially 
since the burden itself is a subregulatory creation that does not apply 
in various contexts.
    In short, we do not believe sections 1554 or 1557 of the ACA, other 
nondiscrimination statutes, or any constitutional doctrines, create an 
affirmative obligation to create, maintain, or impose a Mandate that 
forces covered entities to provide coverage of preventive contraceptive 
services in health plans. The ACA's grant of authority to HRSA to 
provide for, and support, the Guidelines is not transformed by any of 
the laws cited by commenters into a requirement that, once those 
Guidelines exist, they can never be reconsidered, or amended because 
doing so would only affect women's coverage or would allegedly impact 
particular populations disparately.
    In summary, members of the public have widely divergent views on 
whether the exemptions in the Moral IFC and these final rules are good 
public policy. Some commenters stated that the exemptions would burden 
workers, families, and the economic and social stability of the 
country, and interfere with the physician-patient relationship. Other 
commenters disagreed, favoring the public policy behind the exemption, 
and arguing that the exemption would not interfere with the physician-
patient relationship. The Departments have determined that these final 
rules are an appropriate exercise of public policy discretion. Because 
of the importance of the moral convictions being accommodated, the 
limited impact of these final rules, and uncertainty about

[[Page 57609]]

the impact of the Mandate overall according to some studies, the 
Departments do not believe these final rules will have any of the 
drastic negative consequences on third parties or society that some 
opponents of these rules have suggested.
6. Interim Final Rulemaking
    The Departments received several comments about the decision to 
issue the Moral IFC as interim final rules with request for comments, 
instead of as a notice of proposed rulemaking. Several commenters 
asserted that the Departments had the authority to issue the Moral IFC 
in that way, agreeing with the Departments that there was explicit 
statutory authority to do so, good cause under the APA, or both. Other 
commenters held the opposite view, contending that there was neither 
statutory authority to issue the rules on an interim final basis, nor 
good cause under the APA to make the rules immediately effective.
    The Departments continue to believe authority existed to issue the 
Moral IFC as interim final rules. Section 9833 of the Code, section 734 
of ERISA, and section 2792 of the PHS Act authorize the Secretaries of 
the Treasury, Labor, and HHS (collectively, the Secretaries) to 
promulgate any interim final rules that they determine are appropriate 
to carry out the provisions of chapter 100 of the Code, part 7 of 
subtitle B of title I of ERISA, and part A of title XXVII of the PHS 
Act, which include sections 2701 through 2728 of that Act, and the 
incorporation of those sections into section 715 of ERISA and section 
9815 of the Code. The Religious and Moral IFCs fall under those 
statutory authorizations for the use of interim final rulemaking. Prior 
to the Moral IFC, the Departments issued three interim final 
regulations implementing this section of the PHS Act because of the 
needs of covered entities for immediate guidance and the weighty 
matters implicated by the HRSA Guidelines, including issuance of new or 
revised exemptions or accommodations. (75 FR 41726; 76 FR 46621; 79 FR 
51092). The Departments also had good cause to issue the Moral IFC as 
interim final rules, for the reasons discussed therein.
    In any event, the objections of some commenters to the issuance of 
the Moral IFC as interim final rules with request for comments does not 
prevent the issuance of these final rules. These final rules were 
issued after receiving and thoroughly considering public comments as 
requested in the Moral IFC. These final rules therefore comply with the 
APA's notice and comment requirements.
7. Health Effects of Contraception and Pregnancy
    The Departments received numerous comments on the health effects of 
contraception and pregnancy. As noted above, some commenters supported 
the expanded exemptions, and others urged that contraceptives be 
removed from the Guidelines entirely, based on the view that pregnancy 
and the unborn children resulting from conception are not diseases or 
unhealthy conditions that are properly the subject of preventive care 
coverage. Such commenters further contended that hormonal 
contraceptives may present health risks to women. For example, they 
contended that studies show certain contraceptives cause, or are 
associated with, an increased risk of depression,\32\ venous 
thromboembolic disease,\33\ fatal pulmonary embolism,\34\ thrombotic 
stroke and myocardial infarction (particularly among women who smoke, 
are hypertensive, or are older),\35\ hypertension,\36\ HIV-1 
acquisition and transmission,\37\ and breast, cervical, and liver 
cancers.\38\ Some commenters also stated that fertility awareness based 
methods of birth spacing are free of similar health risks since they do 
not involve ingestion of chemicals. Some commenters contended that it 
is not the case that contraceptive access reduces unintended 
pregnancies or abortions.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \32\ Commenters cited Charlotte Wessel Skovlund, et al., 
``Association of Hormonal Contraception with Depression,'' JAMA 
Psychiatry 1154, 1154 (published online Sept. 28, 2016) (``Use of 
hormonal contraception, especially among adolescents, was associated 
with subsequent use of antidepressants and a first diagnosis of 
depression, suggesting depression as a potential adverse effect of 
hormonal contraceptive use.'').
    \33\ Commenters cited the Practice Committee of the American 
Society for Reproductive Medicine, ``Hormonal Contraception: Recent 
Advances and Controversies,'' 82 Fertility and Sterility S26, S30 
(2004); V.A. Van Hylckama et al., ``The Venous Thrombotic Risk of 
Oral Contraceptives, Effects of Estrogen Dose and Progestogen Type: 
Results of the MEGA Case-Control Study,'' 339 Brit. Med. J. b2921 
(2009); Y. Vinogradova et al., ``Use of Combined Oral Contraceptives 
and Risk of Venous Thromboembolism: Nested Case-Control Studies 
Using the QResearch and CPRD Databases,'' 350 Brit. Med. J. h2135 
(2015) (``Current exposure to any combined oral contraceptive was 
associated with an increased risk of venous thromboembolism . . . 
compared with no exposure in the previous year.''); [Oslash]. 
Lidegaard et al., ``Hormonal contraception and risk of venous 
thromboembolism: national follow-up study,'' 339 Brit. Med. J. b2890 
(2009): M. de Bastos et al., ``Combined oral contraceptives: venous 
thrombosis,'' Cochrane Database Syst. Rev., Mar. 3, 2014. doi: 
10.1002/14651858.CD010813.pub2, available at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=24590565; L.J. Havrilesky et al., 
``Oral Contraceptive User for the Primary Prevention of Ovarian 
Cancer,'' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Report No. 13-
E002-EF (June 2013), available at https://archive.ahrq.gov/research/findings/evidence-based-reports/ocusetp.html; and Robert A. Hatcher 
et al., Contraceptive Technology, 405-07 (Ardent Media 18th rev. ed. 
2004).
    \34\ Commenters cited N.R. Poulter, ``Risk of Fatal Pulmonary 
Embolism with Oral Contraceptives,'' 355 Lancet 2088 (2000).
    \35\ Commenters cited [Oslash]. Lidegaard et al., ``Thrombotic 
Stroke and Myocardial Infarction with Hormonal Contraception, 366 N. 
Engl. J. Med. 2257, 2257 (2012) (risks ``increased by a factor of 
0.9 to 1.7 with oral contraceptives that included ethinyl estradiol 
at a dose of 20 [mu]g and by a factor of 1.3 to 2.3 with those that 
included ethinyl estradiol at a dose of 30 to 40 [mu]g''); Practice 
Committee of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, 
``Hormonal Contraception''; M. Vessey et al., ``Mortality in 
Relation to Oral Contraceptive Use and Cigarette Smoking,'' 362 
Lancet 185, 185-91 (2003); WHO Collaborative Study of Cardiovascular 
Disease and Steroid Hormone Contraception, ``Acute Myocardial 
Infarction and Combined Oral Contraceptives: Results of an 
International Multicentre Case-Control Study,'' 349 Lancet 1202, 
1202-09 (1997); K.M. Curtis et al., ``Combined Oral Contraceptive 
Use Among Women With Hypertension: A Systematic Review,'' 73 
Contraception 179, 179-188 (2006); L.A. Gillum et al., ``Ischemic 
stroke risk with oral contraceptives: A meta analysis,'' 284 JAMA 
72, 72-78 (2000), available at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10872016; and Robert A. Hatcher et al., Contraceptive Technology, 
404-05, 445 (Ardent Media 18th rev. ed. 2004).
    \36\ Commenters cited Robert A. Hatcher et al., Contraceptive 
Technology, 407, 445 (Ardent Media 18th rev. ed. 2004).
    \37\ Commenters cited Renee Heffron et al., ``Use of Hormonal 
Contraceptives and Risk of HIV-1 Transmission: A Prospective Cohort 
Study,'' 12 Lancet Infectious Diseases 19, 24 (2012) (``Use of 
hormonal contraceptives was associated with a two-times increase in 
the risk of HIV-1 acquisition by women and HIV-1 transmission from 
women to men.''); and ``Hormonal Contraception Doubles HIV Risk, 
Study Suggests,'' Science Daily (Oct. 4, 2011), https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/10/111003195253.htm.
    \38\ Commenters cited ``Oral Contraceptives and Cancer Risk,'' 
National Cancer Institute (Mar. 21, 2012), https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/hormones/oral-contraceptives-fact-sheet; L.J Havrilesky et al., ``Oral Contraceptive User for the 
Primary Prevention of Ovarian Cancer,'' Agency for Healthcare 
Research and Quality, Report No. 13-E002-EF (June 2013), available 
at https://archive.ahrq.gov/research/findings/evidence-based-reports/ocusetp.html; S. N. Bhupathiraju et al., ``Exogenous hormone 
use: Oral contraceptives, postmenopausal hormone therapy, and health 
outcomes in the Nurses' Health Study,'' 106 Am. J. Pub. Health 1631, 
1631-37 (2016); The World Health Organization Department of 
Reproductive Health and Research, ``Carcinogenicity of Combined 
Hormonal Contraceptives and Combined Menopausal Treatment,'' (Sept. 
2005), available at http://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/topics/ageing/cocs_hrt_statement.pdf; and the American Cancer Society, 
``Known and Probably Human Carcinogens,'' American Cancer Society 
(rev. Nov. 3, 2016), https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancer-causes/general-info/known-and-probable-human-carcinogens.html.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Other commenters disagreed, citing a variety of studies they 
contend show health benefits caused by, or associated

[[Page 57610]]

with, contraceptive use or the prevention of unintended pregnancy. 
Commenters cited, for example, the 2011 Report of the Institute of 
Medicine (IOM), ``Clinical Preventive Services for Women: Closing the 
Gaps,'' in its discussion of the negative effects associated with 
unintended pregnancies, as well as other studies. Such commenters 
contended that, by reducing unintended pregnancy, contraceptives reduce 
the risk of unaddressed health complications, low birth weight, preterm 
birth, infant mortality, and maternal mortality. Commenters also stated 
that studies show contraceptives are associated with a reduced risk of 
conditions such as ovarian cancer, colorectal cancer, and endometrial 
cancer, and that contraceptives treat such conditions as endometriosis, 
polycystic ovarian syndrome, migraines, pre-menstrual pain, menstrual 
regulation, and pelvic inflammatory disease.\39\ Some commenters stated 
that pregnancy presents various health risks, such as blood clots, 
bleeding, anemia, high blood pressure, gestational diabetes, and death. 
Some commenters also contended that increased access to contraception 
reduces abortions.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \39\ To the extent that contraceptives are prescribed to treat 
health conditions, and not for preventive purposes, the Mandate 
would not be applicable.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Some commenters stated that, in the Moral IFC, the Departments 
relied on incorrect statements concerning scientific studies. For 
example, some commenters stated that there is no proven increased risk 
of breast cancer or other risks among contraceptive users. They 
criticized the Departments for citing studies, including one previewed 
in the 2011 IOM Report itself (Agency for Healthcare Research and 
Quality, Report No. 13-E002-EF (June 2013) (cited above)), discussing 
an association between contraceptive use and increased risks of breast 
and cervical cancer, and concluding there are no net cancer-reducing 
benefits of contraceptive use. As described in the Religious IFC, 82 FR 
47804, the 2013 Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality study, and 
other sources, reach conclusions with which these commenters appear to 
disagree. The Departments consider it appropriate to consider these 
studies, as well as the studies cited by commenters who disagree with 
those conclusions.
    Some commenters further criticized the Departments for saying two 
studies cited by the 2011 IOM Report, which asserted an associative 
relationship between contraceptive use and decreases in unintended 
pregnancy, did not on their face establish a causal relationship 
between a broad coverage mandate and decreases in unintended pregnancy. 
In this respect, as noted in the Religious IFC,\40\ the purpose for the 
Departments' reference to such studies was to highlight the difference 
between a causal relationship and an associative one, as well as the 
difference between saying contraceptive use has a certain effect and 
saying a contraceptive coverage mandate (or part of that mandate 
affected by certain exemptions) will necessarily have (or negate, 
respectively) such an effect.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \40\ 82 FR at 47803-04.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Commenters disagreed about the effects of some FDA-approved 
contraceptives on embryos. Some commenters agreed with the quotation, 
in the Moral IFC, of FDA materials \41\ that indicate that some items 
it has approved as contraceptives may prevent the implantation of an 
embryo after fertilization. Some of those commenters cited additional 
scientific sources to argue that certain approved contraceptives may 
prevent implantation, and that, in some cases, some contraceptive items 
may even dislodge an embryo shortly after implantation. Other 
commenters disagreed with the sources cited in the Moral IFC and cited 
additional studies on that issue. Some commenters further criticized 
the Departments for asserting in the Moral IFC that some persons 
believe those possible effects are ``abortifacient.''
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \41\ FDA's guide ``Birth Control'' specifies that various 
approved contraceptives, including Levonorgestrel, Ulipristal 
Acetate, and IUDs, work mainly by preventing fertilization and ``may 
also work . . . by preventing attachment (implantation) to the womb 
(uterus)'' of a human embryo after fertilization. Available at 
https://www.fda.gov/forconsumers/byaudience/forwomen/freepublications/ucm313215.htm.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    This objection on this issue appears to be partially one of 
semantics. People disagree about whether to define ``conception'' or 
``pregnancy'' to occur at fertilization, when the sperm and ovum unite, 
or days later at implantation, when that embryo has undergone further 
cellular development, travelled down the fallopian tube, and implanted 
in the uterine wall. This question is independent of the question of 
what mechanisms of action FDA-approved or cleared contraceptives may 
have. It is also a separate question from whether members of the public 
assert, or believe, that it is appropriate to consider the items 
``abortifacient''--that is, a kind of abortion, or a medical product 
that causes an abortion--because they believe abortion means to cause 
the demise of a post-fertilization embryo inside the mother's body. 
Commenters referenced scientific studies and sources on both sides of 
the issue of whether certain contraceptives prevent implantation. 
Commenters and litigants have positively stated that some of them view 
certain contraceptives as abortifacients, for this reason. See also 
Hobby Lobby, 134 U.S. at 2765 (``The Hahns have accordingly excluded 
from the group-health-insurance plan they offer to their employees 
certain contraceptive methods that they consider to be 
abortifacients.'').
    The Departments do not take a position on the scientific, 
religious, or moral debates on this issue by recognizing that some 
people have sincere moral objections to providing contraception 
coverage on this basis. The Supreme Court has already recognized that 
such a view can form the basis of an objection based on sincerely held 
religious belief under RFRA.\42\ Several litigants have separately 
raised non-religious moral objections to contraceptive coverage based 
on the same basic rationale. Even though there is a plausible 
scientific argument against the view that certain contraceptives have 
mechanisms of action that may prevent implantation, there is also a 
plausible scientific argument in favor of it--as demonstrated, for 
example, by FDA's statement that some contraceptives may prevent 
implantation and by some scientific studies cited by commenters. The 
Departments believe in this context we have a sufficient rationale to 
offer moral exemptions with respect to this Mandate.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \42\ ``Although many of the required, FDA-approved methods of 
contraception work by preventing the fertilization of an egg, four 
of those methods (those specifically at issue in these cases) may 
have the effect of preventing an already fertilized egg from 
developing any further by inhibiting its attachment to the uterus. 
See Brief for HHS in No. 13-354, pp. 9-10, n. 4; FDA, Birth Control: 
Medicines to Help You.'' Hobby Lobby, 134 S. Ct. at 2762-63. ``The 
Hahns have accordingly excluded from the group-health-insurance plan 
they offer to their employees certain contraceptive methods that 
they consider to be abortifacients. . . . Like the Hahns, the Greens 
believe that life begins at conception and that it would violate 
their religion to facilitate access to contraceptive drugs or 
devices that operate after that point.'' Id. at 2765-66.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The Departments also received comments about their discussion, 
located in the Religious IFC but partly relied upon in the Moral IFC, 
concerning uncertainty about the effects the Mandate's expanded 
exemptions might have on teen sexual activity. In this respect, the 
Departments stated, ``With respect to teens, the Santelli and Melnikas 
study cited by IOM 2011

[[Page 57611]]

observes that, between 1960 and 1990, as contraceptive use increased, 
teen sexual activity outside of marriage likewise increased (although 
the study does not assert a causal relationship). Another study, which 
proposed an economic model for the decision to engage in sexual 
activity, stated that `[p]rograms that increase access to contraception 
are found to decrease teen pregnancies in the short run but increase 
teen pregnancies in the long run.' '' \43\ Some commenters agreed with 
this discussion, while other commenters disagreed. Commenters who 
supported the expanded exemptions cited these and similar sources 
suggesting that limiting the exemptions to the Mandate to those that 
existed prior to the Religious and Moral IFCs is not tailored towards 
advancing the Government's interests in reducing teen pregnancy. 
Instead they suggested there are means of reducing teen pregnancy that 
are less burdensome on conscientious objections.\44\ Some commenters 
opposing the expanded exemptions stated that school-based health 
centers provide access to contraceptives, thus increasing use of 
contraceptives by sexually active students. They also cited studies 
concluding that certain decreases in teen pregnancy are attributable to 
increased contraceptive use.\45\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \43\ Citing J.S. Santelli & A.J. Melnikas, ``Teen fertility in 
transition: recent and historic trends in the United States,'' 31 
Ann. Rev. Pub. Health 371, 375-76 (2010), and Peter Arcidiacono et 
al., Habit Persistence and Teen Sex: Could Increased Access to 
Contraception Have Unintended Consequences for Teen Pregnancies? 
(2005), available at http://public.econ.duke.edu/~psarcidi/
addicted13.pdf. See also K. Buckles & D. Hungerman, ``The Incidental 
Fertility Effects of School Condom Distribution Programs,'' Nat'l 
Bureau of Econ. Research Working Paper No. 22322 (June 2016), 
available at http://www.nber.org/papers/w22322 (``access to condoms 
in schools increases teen fertility by about 10 percent'' and 
increased sexually transmitted infections).
    \44\ See Helen Alvar[eacute], ``No Compelling Interest: The 
`Birth Control' Mandate and Religious Freedom,'' 58 Vill. L. Rev. 
379, 400-02 (2013) (discussing the Santelli & Melnikas study and the 
Arcidiacono study cited above, and other research that considers the 
extent to which reduction in teen pregnancy is attributable to 
sexual risk avoidance rather than to contraception access).
    \45\ See, e.g., Lindberg L., Santelli J., ``Understanding the 
Decline in Adolescent Fertility in the United States, 2007-2012,'' 
59 J. Adolescent Health 577-83 (Nov. 2016), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2016.06.024; see also Comment of The Colorado Health 
Foundation, submission ID CMS-2014-0115-19635, www.regulations.gov 
(discussing teen pregnancy data from Colorado).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Many commenters opposing the moral exemptions misunderstood the 
Departments' discussion of this issue. Teens are a significant part, 
though not the entirety, of women the IOM identified as being most at 
risk of unintended pregnancy. The Departments do not take a position on 
the empirical question of whether contraception has caused certain 
reductions in teen pregnancy. Rather, the Departments note that studies 
suggesting various causes of teen pregnancy and unintended pregnancy in 
general make it difficult to establish causation between exemptions to 
the contraceptive Mandate, and an increase in teen pregnancies in 
particular, or unintended pregnancies in general. For example, a 2015 
study investigating the decline in teen pregnancy since 1991 attributed 
it to multiple factors (including, but not limited to, reduced sexual 
activity, falling welfare benefit levels, and expansion of family 
planning services in Medicaid, with the latter accounting for less than 
13 percent of the decline). It concluded that ``that none of the 
relatively easy, policy-based explanations for the recent decline in 
teen childbearing in the United States hold up very well to careful 
empirical scrutiny.'' \46\ One study found that, during the teen 
pregnancy decline between 2007 through 2012, teen sexual activity was 
also decreasing.\47\ One study concluded that falling unemployment 
rates in the 1990s accounted for 85 percent of the decrease in rates of 
first births among 18 to 19 year-old African Americans.\48\ Another 
study found that the representation of African-American teachers was 
associated with a significant reduction in the African-American teen 
pregnancy rate.\49\ One study concluded that an ``increase in the price 
of the Pill on college campuses . . . did not increase the rates of 
unintended pregnancy.'' \50\ Similarly, one study from England found 
that, where funding for teen pregnancy prevention was reduced, there 
was no evidence that the reduction led to an increase in teen 
pregnancies.\51\ Some commenters also cited studies--which are not 
limited to the issue of teen pregnancy--that have found that many women 
who have abortions report that they were using contraceptives when they 
became pregnant.\52\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \46\ Kearney MS and Levine PB, ``Investigating recent trends in 
the U.S. birth rate,'' 41 J. Health Econ. 15-29 (2015), available at 
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0167629615000041.
    \47\ See, e.g., K. Ethier et al., ``Sexual Intercourse Among 
High School Students--29 States and United States Overall, 2005-
2015,'' 66 CDC Morb. Mortal. Wkly Report 1393, 1393-97 (Jan. 5, 
2018), available at http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm665152a1 
(``Nationwide, the proportion of high school students who had ever 
had sexual intercourse decreased significantly overall . . . .'').
    \48\ Colen CG, Geronimus AT, and Phipps MG, ``Getting a piece of 
the pie? The economic boom of the 1990s and declining teen birth 
rates in the United States,'' 63 Social Science & Med. 1531-45 
(Sept. 2006), available at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S027795360600205X.
    \49\ Atkins DN and Wilkins VM, ``Going Beyond Reading, Writing, 
and Arithmetic: The Effects of Teacher Representation on Teen 
Pregnancy Rates,'' 23 J. Pub. Admin. Research & Theory 771-90 (Oct. 
1, 2013), available at https://academic.oup.com/jpart/article-abstract/23/4/771/963674.
    \50\ E. Collins & B. Herchbein, ``The Impact of Subsidized Birth 
Control for College Women: Evidence from the Deficit Reduction 
Act,'' U. Mich. Pop. Studies Ctr. Report 11-737 (May 2011), 
available at https://www.psc.isr.umich.edu/pubs/pdf/rr11-737.pdf 
(``[I]ncrease in the price of the Pill on college campuses . . . did 
not increase the rates of unintended pregnancy or sexually 
transmitted infections for most women'').
    \51\ See D. Paton & L. Wright, ``The effect of spending cuts on 
teen pregnancy,'' 54 J. Health Econ. 135, 135-46 (2017), available 
at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0167629617304551 (``Contrary to predictions made at the time of the 
cuts, panel data estimates provide no evidence that areas which 
reduced expenditure the most have experienced relative increases in 
teenage pregnancy rates. Rather, expenditure cuts are associated 
with small reductions in teen pregnancy rates'').
    \52\ Commenters cited, for example, Guttmacher Institute, ``Fact 
Sheet: Induced Abortion in the United States'' (Jan. 2018) (``Fifty-
one percent of abortion patients in 2014 were using a contraceptive 
method in the month they became pregnant''), available at https://www.guttmacher.org/sites/default/files/factsheet/fb_induced_abortion.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    As the Departments stated in the Religious IFC, we do not take a 
position on the variety of empirical questions discussed above. 
Likewise, these rules do not address the substantive question of 
whether HRSA should include contraceptives in the women's preventive 
services Guidelines issued under section 2713(a)(4). Rather, 
reexamination of the record and review of public comments has 
reinforced the Departments' view that the uncertainty surrounding these 
weighty and important issues makes it appropriate to provide the moral 
exemptions and accommodation if and for as long as HRSA continues to 
include contraceptives in the Guidelines. The federal government has a 
long history, particularly in certain sensitive and multi-faceted 
health issues, of providing moral exemptions from governmental 
mandates. These final rules are consistent with that history and with 
the discretion Congress vested in the Departments to implement the ACA.
8. Health and Equality Effects of Contraceptive Coverage Mandates
    The Departments also received comments about the health and 
equality effects of the Mandate more broadly. Some commenters contended 
that the contraceptive Mandate promoted the health and equality of 
women, especially low income women, and promoted female participation 
and

[[Page 57612]]

equality in the workforce. Other commenters contended there was 
insufficient evidence showing that the expanded exemptions would harm 
those interests. Some of those commenters further questioned whether 
there was evidence to show that broad health coverage mandates of 
contraception lead to increased contraceptive use, reductions in 
unintended pregnancies, or reductions in negative effects said to be 
associated with unintended pregnancies. In particular, some commenters 
discussed a study published and revised by the Guttmacher Institute in 
October 2017, concluding that ``[b]etween 2008 and 2014, there were no 
significant changes in the overall proportion of women who used a 
contraceptive method both among all women and among women at risk of 
unintended pregnancy.'' \53\ This timeframe includes the first two 
years of the contraceptive Mandate's implementation. Despite some 
changes in the use of various methods of contraceptives, the study 
concluded that, ``[f]or the most part, women are changing method type 
within the group of most or moderately effective methods and not 
shifting from less effective to more effective methods.'' Regarding the 
effect of this Mandate in particular, the authors concluded that 
``[t]he role that the contraceptive coverage guarantee played in 
impacting use of contraception at the national level remains unclear, 
as there was no significant increase in the use of methods that would 
have been covered under the ACA (most or moderately effective methods) 
during the most recent time period (2012-2014) excepting small 
increases in implant use.'' The authors observed that other ``[s]tudies 
have produced mixed evidence regarding the relationship between the 
implementation of the ACA and contraceptive use patterns.'' In 
explaining some possible reasons or no clear effect on contraceptive 
use, the authors suggested that ``existence of these safety net 
programs [publicly funded family planning centers and Medicaid] may 
have dampened any impact that the ACA could have had on contraceptive 
use,'' ``cost is not the only barrier to accessing a full range of 
method options,'' and ``access to affordable and/or free contraception 
made possible through programs such as Title X'' may have led to income 
not being associated with the use of most contraceptive methods.\54\ In 
addition, commenters noted that in the 29 states where contraceptive 
coverage mandates have been imposed statewide,\55\ those mandates have 
not necessarily lowered rates of unintended pregnancy (or abortion) 
overall.\56\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \53\ M.L. Kavanaugh et al., ``Contraceptive method use in the 
United States: trends and characteristics between 2008, 2012 and 
2014,'' 97 Contraception 14, 14-21 (2018), available at http://www.contraceptionjournal.org/article/S0010-7824(17)30478-X/pdf.
    \54\ Id.
    \55\ See Guttmacher Institute, ``Insurance Coverage of 
Contraceptives'' (June 11, 2018); ``State Requirements for Insurance 
Coverage of Contraceptives,'' Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation 
(Jan. 1, 2018), https://www.kff.org/other/state-indicator/state-requirements-for-insurance-coverage-of-contraceptives/?currentTimeframe=0&sortModel=%7B%22colId%22:%22Location%22,%22sort%22:%22asc%22%7D.
    \56\ See Michael J. New, ``Analyzing the Impact of State Level 
Contraception Mandates on Public Health Outcomes,'' 13 Ave Maria L. 
Rev. 345 (2015), available at http://avemarialaw-law-review.avemarialaw.edu/Content/articles/vXIII.i2.new.final.0809.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Other commenters, however, disputed the significance of these state 
statistics, noting that, of the 29 states with contraceptive coverage 
mandates, only four states have laws that match the federal 
requirements in scope. Some also observed that, even in states with 
state contraceptive coverage mandates, self-insured group health plans 
might escape those requirements, and some states do not mandate the 
contraceptives to be covered at no out-of-pocket cost to the 
beneficiary.
    The Departments have considered these experiences as relevant to 
the effect the exemption in these rules might have on the Mandate more 
broadly. The state mandates of contraceptive coverage still apply to a 
very large number of plans and plan participants notwithstanding ERISA 
preemption, and public commenters did not point to studies showing 
those state mandates reduced unintended pregnancies. The federal 
contraceptive Mandate, likewise, applies to a broad, but not entirely 
comprehensive, number of employers. For example, to the extent that 
houses of worship and integrated auxiliaries may have self-insured to 
avoid state health insurance contraceptive coverage mandates or for 
other reasons, those groups were already exempt from the federal 
Mandate prior to the 2017 Religious and Moral IFCs. The exemptions as 
set forth in the Moral IFC and in these final rules leave the 
contraceptive Mandate in place for nearly all entities and plans to 
which the Mandate has applied. The Departments are not aware of data 
showing that these expanded exemptions would negate any reduction in 
unintended pregnancies that might result from the contraceptive Mandate 
here.
    Some commenters took a view that appears to disagree with the 
assertion in the 2017 Guttmacher study, that ``[t]he role that the 
contraceptive coverage guarantee played in impacting use of 
contraception at the national level remains unclear, as there was no 
significant increase in the use of methods that would have been covered 
under the ACA.'' These commenters instead observed that, under the 
Mandate, more women have coverage of contraceptives and contraception 
counseling and that more contraceptives are provided without co-pays 
than before. Still others argued that the Mandate, or other expansions 
of contraceptive coverage, have led women to increase their use of 
contraception in general, or to change from less effective, less 
expensive contraceptive methods to more effective, more expensive 
contraceptive methods. Some commenters pointed to studies cited in the 
2011 IOM Report recommending contraception be included in the 
Guidelines and argued that certain women will go without certain health 
care, or contraception specifically, because of cost. They contended 
that a smaller percentage of women delay or forego health care overall 
under the ACA \57\ and that, according to studies, coverage of 
contraceptives without cost-sharing has increased use of contraceptives 
in certain circumstances. Some commenters also stated that studies show 
that decreases in unintended pregnancies are due to broader access to 
contraceptives. Finally, some commenters also stated that birth control 
access generally has led to social and economic equality for women.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \57\ Citing, for example, Adelle Simmons et al., ``The 
Affordable Care Act: Promoting Better Health for Women,'' Table 1, 
ASPE (June 14, 2016), https://aspe.hhs.gov/system/files/pdf/205066/ACAWomenHealthIssueBrief.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The Departments have reviewed the comments, including studies 
submitted by commenters either supporting or opposing these expanded 
exemptions. Based on that review, it is not clear that merely offering 
the exemption in these rules will have a significant effect on 
contraceptive use and health, or workplace equality, for the vast 
majority of women benefitting from the Mandate. There is conflicting 
evidence regarding whether the Mandate alone, as distinct from 
contraceptive access more generally, has caused increased contraceptive 
use, reduced unintended pregnancies, or eliminated workplace 
disparities, where all other women's preventive services were covered 
without cost sharing. Without taking a definitive position on those 
evidentiary issues, however, the Departments

[[Page 57613]]

conclude that the Moral IFC and these final rules--which merely 
withdraw the Mandate's requirement from what appears to be a small 
number of newly exempt entities and plans--are not likely to have 
negative effects on the health or equality of women nationwide. The 
Departments also conclude that the expanded exemptions are an 
appropriate policy choice left to the agencies under the relevant 
statutes, and, thus, an appropriate exercise of the Departments' 
discretion.
    Moreover, the Departments conclude that the best way to balance the 
various policy interests at stake in the Moral IFC and these final 
rules is to provide the exemptions set forth herein, even if certain 
effects may occur among the populations actually affected by the 
employment of these exemptions. These rules provide tangible conscience 
protections for moral convictions, and impose fewer governmental 
burdens on various entities and individuals, some of whom have 
contended for several years that denying them an exemption from the 
contraceptive Mandate imposes a burden on their moral convictions. The 
Departments view the provision of those protections to preserve 
conscience in this health care context as an appropriate policy option, 
notwithstanding the widely divergent effects that public commenters 
have predicted based on different studies they cited. Providing the 
protections for moral convictions set forth in the Moral IFC and these 
final rules is not inconsistent with the ACA, and brings this Mandate 
into better alignment with various other federal conscience protections 
in health care, some of which have been in place for decades.
9. Other General Comments
    Some commenters expressed the view that the exemptions afforded in 
the Moral IFC and herein violate the RFRA rights of women who might not 
receive contraceptive coverage as the result of these final rules, by 
allowing their employers to impose their moral convictions on them by 
removing contraceptive coverage through use of the exemption. Still 
other commenters stated that employer payment of insurance premiums is 
part of any employee's compensation package, the benefits of which 
employers should not be able to limit. In the Departments' view, the 
expanded exemptions in these final rules do not prohibit employers from 
providing contraceptive coverage. Instead, they lift a government 
burden that was imposed on some employers to provide contraceptive 
coverage to their employees in violation of those employers' moral 
convictions. The Departments do not believe RFRA requires, or has ever 
required, the federal government to force employers to provide 
contraceptive coverage. The federal government's decision to exempt 
some entities from a requirement to provide no-cost-sharing services to 
private citizens does not constitute a federal government-imposed 
burden on the latter under RFRA.
    Some commenters asked the Departments to discuss the interaction 
between these rules and state laws that either require contraceptive 
coverage or provide exemptions from those and other requirements. Some 
commenters argue that providing the exemptions in these rules would 
negate state contraceptive requirements or narrower state exemptions. 
Some commenters asked that the Departments specify that these 
exemptions do not apply to plans governed by state laws that require 
contraceptive coverage.
    The Departments agree that these rules only concern the 
applicability of the federal contraceptive Mandate imposed pursuant to 
section 2713(a)(4). They do not regulate state contraceptive mandates 
or state exemptions. If a plan is exempt under the Moral IFC and these 
final rules, that exemption does not necessarily exempt the plan or 
other insurance issuer from state laws that may apply to it. The 
previous regulations, which offered exemptions for houses of worship 
and integrated auxiliaries, did not include regulatory language 
negating the exemptions in states that require contraceptive coverage, 
although the Departments discussed the issue to some degree in various 
preambles of those previous regulations. The Departments do not 
consider it appropriate or necessary in the regulatory text of the 
moral exemption rules to declare whether the federal contraceptive 
Mandate would still apply in states that have a state contraceptive 
mandate, since these rules do not purport to regulate the applicability 
of state contraceptive mandates.\58\
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    \58\ Some commenters also asked that these final rules specify 
that exempt entities must comply with other applicable laws 
concerning such things as notice to plan participants or collective 
bargaining agreements. These final rules relieve the application of 
the federal contraceptive Mandate under section 2713(a)(4) to 
qualified exempt entities; they do not affect the applicability of 
other laws. In the preamble to the companion final rules concerning 
religious exemptions published elsewhere in today's Federal 
Register, the Departments provide guidance applicable to notices of 
revocation and changes that an entity may seek to make during its 
plan year.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Some commenters observed that, through ERISA, some entities may 
avoid state laws that require contraceptive coverage by self-insuring. 
This is a result of the application of the preemption and savings 
clauses contained in ERISA to state insurance regulation. See 29 U.S.C. 
1144(a) & (b)(1).
    These final rules cannot change statutory ERISA provisions, and do 
not change the standards applicable to ERISA preemption. To the extent 
Congress has decided that ERISA preemption includes preemption of state 
laws requiring contraceptive coverage, that decision occurred before 
the ACA and was not negated by the ACA. Congress did not mandate in the 
ACA that any Guidelines issued under section 2713(a)(4) must include 
contraceptives, nor that the Guidelines must force entities with moral 
objections to cover contraceptives.
    Finally, some commenters expressed concern that providing moral 
exemptions to the mandate that private parties provide contraception 
may lead to exemptions regarding other medications or services, like 
vaccines. The exemptions provided in these rules, however, do not apply 
beyond the contraceptive coverage requirement implemented through 
section 2713(a)(4). Specifically, section 2713(a)(2) of the PHS Act 
requires coverage of ``immunizations,'' and these exemptions do not 
encompass that requirement. The fact that the Departments have exempted 
houses of worship and integrated auxiliaries from the contraceptive 
Mandate since 2011 did not lead to those entities receiving exemptions 
under section 2713(a)(2) concerning vaccines. In addition, hundreds of 
entities have sued the Departments over the implementation of section 
2713(a)(4), leading to two decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court, but no 
similar wave of lawsuits has challenged section 2713(a)(2). The 
expanded exemptions in these final rules are consistent with a long 
history of statutes protecting moral convictions from certain health 
care mandates concerning issues such as sterilization, abortion and 
birth control.

B. Text of the Final Rules

    In this section, the Departments describe the regulations from the 
Moral IFC, public comments in response to the specific regulatory text 
set forth in the IFC, the Departments' response to those comments, and, 
in consideration of those comments, the regulatory text as finalized in 
this final rule. We also note the regulatory text as it existed prior 
to the Religious and Moral IFCs, as appropriate. The Departments 
consider the exemptions finalized here to be an appropriate and 
permissible policy

[[Page 57614]]

choice in light of various interests at stake and the lack of a 
statutory requirement for the Departments to impose the Mandate on 
entities and plans that qualify for these exemptions.
    As noted above, various members of the public provided comments 
that were supportive, or critical, of the regulations overall, or of 
significant policies pertaining to the regulations. To the extent those 
comments apply to the following regulatory text, the Departments have 
responded to them above. This section of the preamble responds to 
comments that pertain more specifically to particular regulatory text.
1. Restatement of Statutory Requirements of Section 2713(a) and (a)(4) 
of the PHS Act (26 CFR 54.9815-2713(a)(1) and (a)(1)(iv), 29 CFR 
2590.715-2713(a)(1) and (a)(1)(iv), and 45 CFR 147.130(a)(1) and 
(a)(1)(iv))
    The previous regulations restated the statutory requirements of 
section 2713(a) and (a)(4) of the PHS Act, at 26 CFR 54.9815-2713(a)(1) 
and (a)(1)(iv), 29 CFR 2590.715-2713(a)(1) and (a)(1)(iv), and 45 CFR 
147.130(a)(1) and (a)(1)(iv). The Religious IFC modified those 
restatements to more closely align them with the text of section 
2713(a) and (a)(4) of the PHS Act. Those sections cross-reference the 
other sections of the Departments' rules that provide exemptions to the 
contraceptive Mandate. After the Religious IFC changed those sections, 
the Moral IFC inserted, within those cross-references, references to 
the new Sec.  147.133, which contains the text of the moral exemptions. 
The insertions correspond to the cross-references to the religious 
exemptions added by the Religious IFC. The Departments finalize these 
parts of the Moral IFC without change.
2. Exemption for Objecting Entities Based on Moral Convictions (45 CFR 
147.133(a))
    The previous regulations contained no exemption concerning moral 
convictions, as distinct from religious beliefs. Instead, at 45 CFR 
147.131(a), they offered an exemption for houses of worship and 
integrated auxiliaries. In the remaining part of Sec.  147.131, the 
previous regulations described the accommodation process for 
organizations with religious objections. The Religious IFC moved the 
religious exemption to a new section 45 CFR 147.132, and expanded its 
scope. The Moral IFC created a new section 45 CFR 147.133, providing 
exemptions for moral convictions similar to, but not exactly the same 
as, the exemptions for religious beliefs set forth in Sec.  147.132.
    The prefatory language of Sec.  147.133(a) not only specifies that 
certain entities are ``exempt,'' but also explains that the Guidelines 
shall not support or provide for an imposition of the contraceptive 
coverage requirement to such exempt entities. This is an 
acknowledgement that section 2713(a)(4) requires women's preventive 
services coverage only ``as provided for in comprehensive guidelines 
supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration.'' To the 
extent the HRSA Guidelines do not provide for, or support, the 
application of such coverage to certain entities or plans, the 
Affordable Care Act does not require the coverage. Those entities or 
plans are ``exempt'' by not being subject to the requirements in the 
first instance. Therefore, in describing the entities or plans as 
``exempt,'' and in referring to the ``exemption'' encompassing those 
entities or plans, the Departments also affirm the non-applicability of 
the Guidelines to them.
    The Departments wish to make clear that the expanded exemption set 
forth in Sec.  147.133(a) applies to several distinct entities involved 
in the provision of coverage to an objecting employer's employees. This 
explanation is consistent with how prior regulations have worked by 
means of similar language. When Sec.  147.133(a)(1) and (a)(1)(i) 
specify that ``[a] group health plan,'' ``health insurance coverage 
provided in connection with a group health plan,'' and ``health 
insurance coverage offered or arranged by an objecting organization'' 
are exempt ``to the extent'' of the objections ``as specified in 
paragraph (a)(2),'' that language exempts the group health plans of the 
sponsors that object, and their health insurance issuers in providing 
the coverage in those plans (whether or not the issuers have their own 
objections). Consequently, with respect to Guidelines issued under 
Sec.  147.130(a)(1)(iv) (and as referenced by the parallel provisions 
in 26 CFR 54.9815 through 2713(a)(1)(iv) and 29 CFR 2590.715 through 
2713(a)(1)(v)), the plan sponsor, issuer, and plan covered in the 
exemption of that paragraph would face no penalty as a result of 
omitting contraceptive coverage from the benefits of the plan 
participants and beneficiaries. However, while a plan sponsor's or 
arranger's objection removes penalties from that group health plan's 
issuer, it only does so with respect to that group health plan--it does 
not affect the issuer's coverage for other group health plans where the 
plan sponsor has no qualifying objection. More information on the 
effects of the objection of a health insurance issuer in Sec.  
147.133(a)(1)(iii) is included below.
    The exemptions in Sec.  147.133(a)(1) apply ``to the extent'' of 
the objecting entities' sincerely held moral convictions. Thus, 
entities that hold a requisite objection to covering some, but not all, 
contraceptive items would be exempt with respect to the items to which 
they object, but not with respect to the items to which they do not 
object. Some commenters stated it was unclear whether the plans of 
entities or individuals that morally object to some but not all 
contraceptives would be exempt from being required to cover just the 
contraceptive methods as to which there is an objection, or whether the 
objection to some contraceptives leads to an exemption from that plan 
being required to cover all contraceptives. The Departments intend that 
a requisite moral objection to some, but not all, contraceptives would 
lead to an exemption only to the extent of that objection: That is, the 
exemption would encompass only the items to which the relevant entity 
or individual objects and would not encompass contraceptive methods to 
which the objection does not apply. To make this clearer, in these 
final rules the Departments finalize the prefatory language of Sec.  
147.133(a) so that the first sentence of that paragraph states that an 
exemption shall be included, and the Guidelines must not provide for 
contraceptive coverage, ``to the extent of the objections specified 
below.'' The Departments have made corresponding changes to language 
throughout the regulatory text, to describe the exemptions as applying 
``to the extent'' of the objection(s).
    The exemptions contained in previous regulations, at Sec.  
147.131(a), did not require an exempt entity to submit any particular 
self-certification or notice, either to the government or to the 
entity's issuer or third party administrator, in order to obtain or 
qualify for their exemption. Similarly, under the expanded exemptions 
in Sec.  147.133, the Moral IFC did not require exempt entities to 
comply with a self-certification process. We finalize that approach 
without change. Although exempt entities do not need to file notices or 
certifications of their exemption, and these final rules do not impose 
any new notice requirements on them, existing ERISA rules governing 
group health plans require that, with respect to plans subject to 
ERISA, a plan document must include a comprehensive summary of the 
benefits covered by the plan and a statement of the conditions for 
eligibility to receive benefits. Under ERISA, the plan

[[Page 57615]]

document identifies what benefits are provided to participants and 
beneficiaries under the plan; if an objecting employer would like to 
exclude all or a subset of contraceptive services, it must ensure that 
the exclusion is clear in the plan document. Moreover, if there is a 
reduction in a covered service or benefit, the plan has to disclose 
that change to plan participants.\59\ Thus, where an exemption applies 
and all (or a subset of) contraceptive services are omitted from a 
plan's coverage, otherwise applicable ERISA disclosures must reflect 
the omission of coverage in ERISA plans. These existing disclosure 
requirements serve to help provide notice to participants and 
beneficiaries of what ERISA plans do and do not cover.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \59\ See, for example, 29 U.S.C. 1022, 1024(b), 29 CFR 2520.102-
2, 2520.102-3, & 2520.104b-3(d), and 29 CFR 2590.715-2715. See also 
45 CFR 147.200 (requiring disclosure of the ``exceptions, 
reductions, and limitations of the coverage,'' including group 
health plans and group & individual issuers).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Some commenters supported this approach, while others did not. 
Those in favor suggested that self-certification forms for an exemption 
are not necessary, could add burdens to exempt entities beyond those 
imposed by the previous exemption, and could give rise to objections to 
the self-certification process itself. Commenters also stated that 
requiring an exemption form for exempt entities could cause additional 
operational burdens for plans that have existing processes in place to 
handle exemptions. Other commenters favored including a self-
certification process for exempt entities. They suggested that entities 
might abuse the availability of an exemption or use their exempt status 
insincerely if no self-certification process exists, and that the 
Mandate might be difficult to enforce without a self-certification 
process.
    After considering the comments, the Departments continue to believe 
it is appropriate to not require exempt entities to submit a self-
certification or notice. The previous exemption did not require a self-
certification or notice, and the Departments did not collect a list of 
all entities that used the exemption, although there may have been 
thousands of houses of worship and integrated auxiliaries covered by 
the previous exemption and the Departments think it likely that only a 
small number of entities will use the moral exemption. Adding a self-
certification or notice to the exemption would impose an additional 
paperwork burden on exempt entities that the previous regulations did 
not impose, and would also involve additional public costs if those 
certifications or notices are to be reviewed or kept on file by the 
government.
    The Departments are not aware of instances where the lack of a 
self-certification under the previous exemption led to abuses or to an 
inability to engage in enforcement. The Mandate is enforceable through 
various mechanisms in the PHS Act, the Code, and ERISA. Entities that 
insincerely or otherwise improperly operate as if they are exempt would 
do so at the risk of enforcement and accountability under such 
mechanisms. The Departments are not aware of sufficient reasons to 
believe those measures and mechanisms would fail to deter entities from 
improperly operating as if they are exempt. Moreover, as noted above, 
ERISA and other plan disclosure requirements governing group health 
plans require provision of a comprehensive summary of the benefits 
covered by the plan and disclosure of any reductions in covered 
services or benefits, so beneficiaries will know whether their health 
plan claims a contraceptive Mandate exemption and will be able to raise 
appropriate challenges to such claims. As a consequence, the 
Departments believe it is an appropriate balance of various concerns 
expressed by commenters for these final rules to continue to not 
require notices or self-certifications for using the exemption.
    Some commenters asked the Departments to add language indicating 
that an exemption cannot be invoked in the middle of a plan year, nor 
should it be used to the extent inconsistent with laws that apply to, 
or state approval of, fully insured plans. None of the previous 
iterations of the exemption regulations included such provisions, and 
the Departments do not consider them necessary in these final rules. 
The exemptions in these final rules only purport to exempt plans and 
entities from the application of the federal contraceptive coverage 
requirement of the Guidelines issued under section 2713(a)(4). They do 
not purport to exempt entities or plans from state laws concerning 
contraceptive coverage, or laws governing whether an entity can make a 
change (of whatever kind) during a plan year. Final rules governing the 
accommodation likewise do not purport to obviate the need to follow 
otherwise applicable rules about making changes during a plan year. (In 
the companion rules concerning religious beliefs published elsewhere in 
today's Federal Register, the Departments discuss in more detail the 
accommodation and when an entity seeking to revoke it would be able to 
do so or to notify plan participants of the revocation.)
    Commenters also asked that clauses be added to the regulatory text 
holding issuers harmless where exemptions are invoked by plan sponsors. 
As discussed above, the exemption rules already specify that where an 
exemption applies to a group health plan, it encompasses both the group 
health plan and health insurance coverage provided in connection with 
the group health plan, and therefore encompasses any impact on the 
issuer of the contraceptive coverage requirement with respect to that 
plan. In addition, as discussed in the companion religious final rule 
published elsewhere in today's Federal Register, the Departments have 
added language from the previous regulations, in Sec.  147.131(f), to 
protect issuers that act in reliance on certain representations made in 
the accommodation process. To the extent that commenters seek language 
offering additional protections for other incidents that might occur in 
connection with the invocation of an exemption, the previous exemption 
regulations did not include such provisions, and the Departments do not 
consider them necessary in these final rules. As noted above, the 
expanded exemptions in these final rules simply remove or narrow the 
contraceptive Mandate contained in, and derived from, the Guidelines 
for certain plans. The previous regulations included a reliance clause 
in the accommodation provisions, but did not specify further details 
regarding the relationship between exempt entities and their issuers or 
third party administrators. The Departments do not believe it necessary 
to do so in these final rules.
    Commenters disagreed about the likely effects of the moral 
exemptions on the health coverage market. Some commenters stated that 
expanding the exemptions to encompass moral convictions would not cause 
complications in the market, while others said that it could, due to 
such causes as a lack of uniformity among plans, or permitting multiple 
risk pools. The Departments note that the extent to which plans cover 
contraception under the prior regulations is already far from uniform. 
Congress did not require all entities to comply with section 2713 of 
the PHS Act (under which the Mandate was promulgated)--most notably by 
exempting grandfathered plans. Moreover, under the previous 
regulations, issuers were already able to offer plans that omit 
contraceptives--or only some contraceptives--to houses of worship and 
integrated auxiliaries, and some commenters and litigants said that 
issuers were doing so. These cases

[[Page 57616]]

where plans did not need to comply with the Mandate, and the 
Departments' previous accommodation process which had the effect of 
allowing coverage not to be provided in certain self-insured church 
plans, together show that the importance of a uniform health coverage 
system is not significantly harmed by allowing plans to omit 
contraception in some contexts.\60\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \60\ See also Real Alternatives, 867 F.3d 338, 389 (3d Cir. 
2017) (Jordan, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part) 
(``Because insurance companies would offer such plans as a result of 
market forces, doing so would not undermine the government's 
interest in a sustainable and functioning market. . . . Because the 
government has failed to demonstrate why allowing such a system (not 
unlike the one that allowed wider choice before the ACA) would be 
unworkable, it has not satisfied strict scrutiny.'' (citation and 
internal quotation marks omitted)).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Concerning the prospect raised by some commenters of different risk 
pools between men and women, section 2713(a) of the PHS Act itself 
provides for some preventive services coverage that applies to both men 
and women, and some that would apply only to women. With respect to the 
latter, it does not specify what, if anything, HRSA's Guidelines for 
women's preventives services would cover, or if contraceptive coverage 
will be required. The Moral IFC and these final rules do not require 
issuers to offer health insurance products that satisfy morally 
objecting entities, they simply make it legal to do so. The Mandate has 
been imposed only relatively recently, and the contours of its 
application to objecting entities has been in continual flux, due to 
various rulemakings and court orders. Overall, concerns raised by some 
public commenters have not led the Departments to consider it likely 
that offering these expanded exemptions will cause any injury to the 
uniformity or operability of the health coverage market.
3. Exemption for Certain Plan Sponsors (45 CFR 147.133(a)(1)(i))
    The exemption in Sec.  147.133(a)(1)(i) of the Moral IFC covers a 
group health plan and health insurance coverage for non-governmental 
plan sponsors that object as specified in paragraph (a)(2), and that 
are either nonprofit organizations, or are for-profit entities that 
have no publicly traded ownership interests (defined as any class of 
common equity securities required to be registered under section 12 of 
the Securities Exchange Act of 1934). The Departments finalize this 
paragraph without change, and discuss each part of the paragraph in 
turn.
a. Plan Sponsors in General (45 CFR 147.133(a)(1)(i) Prefatory Text)
    Under the plan sponsor exemption in Sec.  147.132(a)(1)(i), the 
prefatory text in that paragraph specifies that it encompasses group 
health plans, and health insurance coverage provided in connection with 
such group health plans, that are sponsored by certain kinds of 
entities, namely, nonprofit organizations or for-profit entities that 
have no publicly traded ownership interests.
    Such plan sponsors, if they are otherwise nonprofit organizations 
or for-profit entities that have no publicly traded ownership 
interests, can include entities that are not employers (for example, a 
union, or a sponsor of a multiemployer plan), where the plan sponsor 
objects based on sincerely held moral convictions to coverage of 
contraceptives or sterilization. Plan sponsors encompassed by the 
exemption can also include employers, and consistent with the 
definition of ``employer'' in 29 CFR 2510.3-5, can include association 
health plans, where the plan sponsor is a nonprofit organization or a 
for-profit entity that has no publicly traded ownership interests.
    Some commenters objected to extending the exemption to plan 
sponsors that are not single employers, arguing that they could not 
have the same kind of moral objection that a single employer might 
have. Other commenters supported the protection of any plan sponsor 
with the requisite moral objection. The Departments conclude that it is 
appropriate, where a plan sponsor of a multiemployer plan or multiple 
employer plan adopts a moral objection using the same procedures that 
such a plan sponsor might use to make other decisions, to respect that 
decision by providing an exemption from the Mandate.
    The plans of governmental employers are not covered by the plan 
sponsor exemption in Sec.  147.133(a)(1)(i), which instead limits the 
moral exemptions to ``non-governmental plan sponsors.'' As noted above, 
the Departments sought public comment on whether to extend the 
exemptions to non-federal governmental plan sponsors. Some commenters 
suggested that the moral exemptions should include government entities 
because other conscience laws can include government entities, such as 
when they oppose offering abortions. Others disagreed, contending that 
governmental entities should not or cannot object based on moral 
convictions, or that it would be unlawful for them to do so.
    The Departments are sympathetic to the arguments of commenters that 
favor including government entities in the exemption for moral 
convictions. The protections outlined in the first paragraph of the 
Church Amendments for entities that object based on moral convictions 
to making their facilities or personnel available to assist in the 
performance of abortions or sterilizations do not turn on the nature of 
the entity, whether public, private, nonprofit, for-profit, or 
governmental. (42 U.S.C. 300a-7(b)). Both the Weldon and Coats-Snowe 
Amendments also protect state and local government entities from 
providing, promoting, or paying for abortions in particular ways.\61\ 
Congress has generally not limited protections for conscience based on 
the nature of an entity--even in the case of governmental entities.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \61\ Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018, Div. H, Sec. 507(d), 
132 Stat. at 764 (protecting any ``hospital, a provider-sponsored 
organization, a health maintenance organization, a health insurance 
plan, or any other kind of health care facility, organization, or 
plan'' in objecting to abortion); 42 U.S.C. 238n (protecting 
entities that object to abortion, including, but not limited to, any 
``postgraduate physician training program'').
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    At the same time, the Departments do not at this time have 
information suggesting that an exemption for governmental entities is 
needed or desired. The Departments have not been sued by any 
governmental entities raising objections to the Mandate based on non-
religious moral convictions. Although the Departments sought public 
comment on the issue, the Departments received no public comments 
identifying governmental entities that need or desire such an 
exemption. Rather, the Departments are aware of governmental entities 
that, despite not possessing their own objections to contraceptive 
coverage, have acted to protect their employees who have conscientious 
objections to receiving contraceptive coverage in their employer-
provided health insurance plans. See Wieland v. U.S. Dep't of Health & 
Human Servs., 196 F. Supp. 1010, 1015-16 (E.D. Mo. 2016) (quoting Mo. 
Rev. Stat. 191.724). The individual exemption adopted in these rules 
will ensure the Mandate is not an obstacle to those efforts.
    Thus, in light of the balance of public comments, the Departments 
decline to extend the moral convictions exemption to governmental 
entities. As is the case with the Departments' decision not to extend 
the moral exemption to publicly traded for-profit entities, this 
decision does not reflect a disagreement with the various conscience 
statutes that provide exemptions for moral convictions

[[Page 57617]]

without categorically excluding governmental entities. The Departments 
remain open to the possibility of future rulemaking on this issue if 
the Departments become aware of a governmental entity seeking to be 
exempt from the contraceptive Mandate.
b. Nonprofit Organizations (45 CFR 147.133(a)(1)(i)(A))
    As discussed above, some commenters opposed offering exemptions 
based on moral convictions to any plan sponsors, and/or objected to 
doing so for nonprofit organizations, on various grounds, including but 
not limited to arguments that the benefits of contraception access 
should override moral objections, entities cannot assert moral 
objections, and moral objections burden third parties. Other commenters 
supported the exemptions, generally defending the interest of nonprofit 
organizations not to be forced to violate their moral convictions, 
supporting the history of government protection of moral convictions in 
similar contexts, and disputing the claims of opponents of the 
exemptions.
    The Departments are aware, through litigation, of only two non-
religious nonprofit organizations with moral objections to the 
contraceptive Mandate. Many more nonprofit religious organizations have 
sued suggesting--as discussed below--that the effect of this exemption 
for non-religious nonprofit objections to the Mandate will be far less 
significant than commenters who oppose the exemption believe it will. 
The two non-religious nonprofit organizations that challenged the 
Mandate in court provide a good illustration of the reasons why the 
Department has decided to provide this exemption to nonprofit 
organizations. Both organizations have said in court they oppose 
certain contraceptives on non-religious moral grounds as being 
abortifacient and state that they only hire employees who share that 
view. Public comments and litigation reflect that many nonprofit 
organizations publicly describe their beliefs and convictions. 
Government records and many of those groups' websites also often 
reflect those groups' religious or moral character, as the case may be. 
If a person who desires contraceptive coverage works at a nonprofit 
organization, the Departments view it as sufficiently likely that the 
person would know, or would know to ask, whether the organization 
offers such coverage. The Departments are not aware of federal laws 
that would require a nonprofit organization that opposes contraceptive 
coverage to hire a person who disagrees with the organization's view on 
contraceptive coverage. Instead, nonprofit organizations generally have 
access to a First Amendment right of expressive association to choose 
to hire persons (or, in the case of students, to admit them) based on 
whether they share, or at least will be respectful of, their 
beliefs.\62\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \62\ Notably, ``the First Amendment simply does not require that 
every member of a group agree on every issue in order for the 
group's policy to be `expressive association.' '' Boy Scouts of 
America v. Dale, 530 U.S. 640, 655 (2000).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The Departments agree with commenters who support offering the 
exemption to nonprofit organizations and believe that doing so is an 
appropriate protection and is not likely to have a significant impact 
on women who want contraceptive coverage.
c. For-Profit Entities (45 CFR 147.133(a)(1)(i)(B))
    With respect to for-profit organizations addressed in Sec.  
147.133(a)(1)(i)(B), in the Moral IFC, the Departments did not limit 
the exemption to nonprofit organizations, but also included some for-
profit entities. Some commenters supported including for-profit 
entities in the exemption, saying owners of such entities exercise 
their moral convictions through their businesses, and that such owners 
should not be burdened by a federal governmental contraceptive Mandate. 
Other commenters opposed extending the exemption to closely held for-
profit entities, saying the entities cannot exercise moral convictions 
or should not have their moral opposition to contraceptive coverage 
protected by the exemption. Some commenters stated that the entities 
should not be able to impose their beliefs about contraceptive coverage 
on their employees and that doing so constitutes discrimination.
    The Departments agree with commenters who support including some 
for-profit entities in the exemption. Many of the federal health care 
conscience statutes cited above offer protections for the moral 
convictions of entities, without regard to whether they operate as 
nonprofit organizations or for-profit entities. In addition, nearly 
half of the states either impose no contraceptive coverage requirement 
or offer ``an almost unlimited'' exemption encompassing both 
``religious and secular organizations.'' \63\ States also generally 
protect moral convictions in other health care conscience laws whether 
or not an entity operates as a nonprofit.\64\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \63\ ``Insurance Coverage of Contraceptives,'' The Guttmacher 
Institute (June 11, 2018), https://www.guttmacher.org/state-policy/explore/insurance-coverage-contraceptives.
    \64\ See, e.g., ``Refusing to Provide Health Services,'' The 
Guttmacher Institute (June 1, 2018), https://www.guttmacher.org/state-policy/explore/refusing-provide-health-services.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Extending the exemption to certain for-profit entities is also 
consistent with the Supreme Court's ruling in Hobby Lobby, which 
declared that a corporate entity is capable of possessing and pursuing 
non-pecuniary goals (in Hobby Lobby, the pursuit of religious beliefs), 
regardless of whether the entity operates as a nonprofit organization 
and rejected the Departments' argument to the contrary. 134 S. Ct. at 
2768-75. The mechanisms by which a for-profit company makes decisions 
of conscience, or resolves disputes on those issues among their owners, 
are problems that ``state corporate law provides a ready means'' of 
solving. Id. at 2774-75. Some reports and industry experts have 
indicated that few for-profit entities beyond those that had originally 
challenged the Mandate have sought relief from it after Hobby 
Lobby.\65\ Because all of those appear to be informed by religious 
beliefs, extending the exemption to entities with non-religious moral 
convictions would seem to have an even smaller impact on access to 
contraceptive coverage.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \65\ See Jennifer Haberkorn, ``Two years later, few Hobby Lobby 
copycats emerge,'' Politico (Oct. 11, 2016), http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/obamacare-birth-control-mandate-employers-229627.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The Moral IFC only extended the exemption covering for-profit 
entities to those that are closely held, not to for-profit entities 
that are publicly traded, but asked for comment on whether publicly 
traded entities should be included in the moral exemption. In this way 
the Moral IFC differed from the exemption provided to plan sponsors 
with objections based on sincerely held religious beliefs set forth in 
the Religious IFC, at Sec.  147.132(a)(1), finalized in companion rules 
published elsewhere in today's Federal Register.
    Some commenters supported including publicly traded entities in the 
moral exemption, contending that publicly traded entities have 
historically taken various positions on important public concerns 
beyond merely seeking the company's own profits, and that nothing in 
principle would preclude them from using the same mechanisms of 
corporate decision-making to establish and exercise moral convictions 
against contraceptive coverage. They observed that large publicly 
traded entities are exempt from the contraceptive Mandate by means of 
the grandfathering provision of the ACA, so

[[Page 57618]]

that it is inappropriate to refuse to exempt publicly traded entities 
that actually have sincerely held moral convictions against compliance 
with the Mandate. They further argued that in some instances there are 
closely held companies that are as large as publicly traded companies 
of significant size. They also stated that other protections for moral 
convictions in certain federal health care conscience statutes do not 
preclude the application of such protections to certain entities on the 
basis that they are not closely held, and federal law defines 
``persons'' to include all forms of corporations, not just closely held 
corporations, at 1 U.S.C. 1. Additionally, some commenters were 
concerned that not providing a moral exemption for publicly traded for-
profit entities but allowing a religious exemption for publicly traded 
for-profit entities (as was allowed in the Religious IFC, and as is 
allowed in the companion religious final rules published elsewhere in 
today's Federal Register), may raise Establishment Clause questions, 
may cause confusion to the public, and may make the exemptions more 
difficult for the Departments and enforcing agencies to administer. 
They stated that it is incongruous to include publicly traded entities 
in the exemption for religious beliefs, but exclude them from the 
exemption for moral convictions.
    Other commenters opposed including publicly traded companies in 
these moral exemptions. Some stated that such companies could not 
exercise moral convictions and opposed the effects on women if they 
would. They also objected that including such companies, along with 
closely held businesses, would extend the exemptions to all or 
virtually all companies. Some commenters stated that many publicly 
traded companies would use a moral exemption if available to them, 
because many closely held for-profit businesses expressed religious 
objections to the Mandate, or availed themselves of the religious 
accommodation.
    As is the case for non-federal governmental employers, the 
Departments are sympathetic to the arguments of commenters that favor 
including publicly traded entities in the exemption for moral 
convictions. In the case of particularly sensitive health care matters, 
several significant federal health care conscience statutes protect 
entities' moral objections without regard to their ownership status. 
For example, the first paragraph of the Church Amendments provides 
certain protections for entities that object based on moral convictions 
to making their facilities or personnel available to assist in the 
performance of abortions or sterilizations; the protections of the 
Church Amendments do not turn on the nature of the entity, whether 
public, private, nonprofit, for-profit, or governmental. (42 U.S.C. 
300a-7(b)). Thus, under section 300a-7(b), a hospital in a publicly 
traded health system, or a local governmental hospital, could adopt 
sincerely held moral convictions by which it objects to providing 
facilities or personnel for abortions or sterilizations, and if the 
entity receives relevant funds from HHS specified by section 300a-7(b), 
the protections of that section would apply. Other federal conscience 
protections in the health sector apply in the same manner:
     The Coats-Snowe Amendment (42 U.S.C. 238n) provides 
certain protections for health care entities and postgraduate physician 
training programs that, among other things, choose not to perform, 
refer for, or provide training for, abortions.
     The Weldon Amendment \66\ provides certain protections for 
health care entities, hospitals, provider-sponsored organizations, 
health maintenance organizations, and health insurance plans that do 
not provide, pay for, provide coverage of, or refer for abortions.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \66\ See Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018, Public Law 115-
141, Div. H, Sec. 507(d) (Mar. 2018).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

     The ACA provides certain protections for any institutional 
health care entity, hospital, provider-sponsored organization, health 
maintenance organization, health insurance plan, or any other kind of 
health care facility, that does not provide any health care item or 
service furnished for the purpose of causing or assisting in causing 
assisted suicide, euthanasia, or mercy killing. (42 U.S.C. 18113).\67\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \67\ The lack of the limitation in this provision may be 
particularly relevant since it was enacted in the same statute, the 
ACA, as the provision under which the Mandate--and these exemptions 
to the Mandate--were promulgated.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

     Social Security Act sections 1852(j)(3)(B) (Medicare) and 
1932(b)(3)(B) (Medicaid), 42 U.S.C. 1395w-22(j)(3)(B) and 1396u-
2(b)(3)(B), provide protections so that the statutes cannot be 
construed to require organizations that offer Medicare Advantage and 
Medicaid managed care plans in certain contexts to provide, reimburse 
for, or provide coverage of a counseling or referral service if they 
object to doing so on moral grounds.
     Congress's most recent statement on contraceptive coverage 
specified that, if the District of Columbia requires ``the provision of 
contraceptive coverage by health insurance plans,'' ``it is the intent 
of Congress that any legislation enacted on such issue should include a 
`conscience clause' which provides exceptions for religious beliefs and 
moral convictions.'' Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018, Public Law 
115-141, Div. E, Sec. 808.

In all of these instances, Congress did not limit the protection for 
conscience based on the nature of the entity--and did not exclude 
publicly traded entities from protection.
    At the same time, as stated in the Moral IFC, the Departments 
continue to lack significant information about whether there is a need 
to extend the expanded exemption to publicly traded entities. The 
Departments have been sued by nonprofit entities expressing objections 
to the Mandate based on non-religious moral convictions, as well as by 
closely held for-profit entities expressing religious objections, but 
not by any publicly traded entities. In addition, the Departments 
sought public comments on whether publicly traded entities might 
benefit from extending the moral exemption to them. No such entities 
were brought to the attention of the Department through the comment 
process. The Supreme Court concluded it is improbable that publicly 
traded companies with numerous ``unrelated shareholders--including 
institutional investors with their own set of stakeholders--would agree 
to run a corporation under the same religious beliefs.'' Hobby Lobby, 
134 S. Ct. at 2774. It would appear to be even less probable that 
publicly traded entities would adopt that view based on non-religious 
moral convictions.
    In light of the balance of public comments, the Departments decline 
to extend the moral convictions exemption to publicly traded entities. 
Because the Departments are aware of so many closely-held for-profit 
entities with religious objections to contraceptive coverage, and of 
some nonprofit entities with non-religious moral objections to 
contraceptive coverage, the Departments believe it is reasonably 
possible that closely held for-profit entities with non-religious moral 
objections to contraceptive coverage might exist or come into being. 
The Departments have also concluded that it is reasonably possible, 
even if improbable, that publicly traded entities with religious 
objections to contraceptive coverage might exist or come into being. 
But the Departments conclude there is not a similar probability that 
publicly traded for-profit entities with non-religious moral objections 
to contraceptive

[[Page 57619]]

coverage may exist and need to be included in these expanded 
exemptions. The decision to not extend the moral exemption to publicly 
traded for-profit entities in these rules does not reflect a 
disagreement with the various conscience statutes that provide 
exemptions for moral convictions without categorically excluding 
publicly traded entities. The Departments remain open to the 
possibility of future rulemaking on this issue, if we become aware of 
the need to expand the exemptions to publicly traded corporations with 
non-religious moral objections to all (or a subset of) contraceptives.
    In contrast, the Departments finalize, without change, the Moral 
IFC's extension of the exemptions in these rules to closely held for-
profit entities with moral convictions opposed to offering coverage of 
some or all contraceptives. The Departments conclude that it is 
sufficiently likely that closely held for-profit entities exist or may 
come into being and may maintain moral objections to certain 
contraceptives, so as to support including them in these expanded 
exemptions. The Departments seek to remove an obstacle that might 
prevent individuals with moral objections from forming or maintaining 
such small or closely held businesses and providing health coverage to 
their employees in accordance with their moral convictions.
    In defining what constitutes a closely held for-profit entity to 
which these exemptions extend, the Moral IFC used language derived from 
the July 2015 final regulations. Those regulations, in offering the 
accommodation (not an exemption) to religious (not moral) closely held 
for-profit entities, did so by attempting to positively define what 
constitutes a closely held entity, formulating a multi-factor, and 
partially open-ended, definition for that purpose. (80 FR 41313). Any 
such positive definition runs up against the myriad state differences 
in defining such entities and potentially intrudes into a traditional 
area of state regulation of business organizations. Instead of 
attempting to positively define closely held businesses in the Moral 
IFC, however, the Departments considered it much clearer, effective, 
and preferable to define the category negatively, by reference to one 
element of the previous definition: that the entity has no publicly 
traded ownership interest (that is, any class of common equity 
securities required to be registered under section 12 of the Securities 
Exchange Act of 1934).
4. Institutions of Higher Education (45 CFR 147.133(a)(1)(ii))
    The previous regulations did not exempt plans arranged by 
institutions of higher education, although they did include, in the 
accommodation, plans arranged by institutions of higher education 
similarly to the way in which the regulations provided the 
accommodation to plans of nonprofit religious employers. (See 80 FR 
41347). The Moral IFC provided an exemption, in Sec.  
147.133(a)(1)(ii), encompassing institutions of higher education that 
arrange student health insurance coverage, and stating the exemption 
would operate in a manner comparable to the exemption for employers 
with respect to plans they sponsor. In these final rules, the 
Departments finalize Sec.  147.133(a)(1)(ii) with one change.
    These rules treat the health plans of institutions of higher 
education that arrange student health insurance coverage similarly to 
the way in which the rules treat the plans of employers. The rules do 
so by making such student health plans eligible for the expanded 
exemptions, and by permitting them the option of electing to utilize 
the accommodation process. Thus, these rules specify, in Sec.  
147.133(a)(1)(ii), that the exemption is extended, in the case of 
institutions of higher education (as defined in 20 U.S.C. 1002) with 
objections to the Mandate based on sincerely held moral convictions, to 
their arrangement of student health insurance coverage, in a manner 
comparable to the exemption for group health insurance coverage 
provided in connection with a group health plan established or 
maintained by a plan sponsor.
    Some commenters supported including, in the exemptions, 
institutions of higher education that provide health coverage for 
students through student health plans but have moral objections to 
providing certain contraceptive coverage. They stated that moral 
exemptions allow freedom for certain institutions of higher education 
to exist, and this in turn gives students the choice of institutions 
that hold different views on important issues such as contraceptives 
and abortifacients. Other commenters opposed including the exemption, 
asserting that expanding the exemption would negatively impact female 
students because institutions of higher education might not cover 
contraceptives in student health plans, women enrolled in those plans 
would not receive access to birth control, and an increased number of 
unintended pregnancies would result.
    In the Departments' view, the reasons for extending the exemption 
to institutions of higher education are similar to the reasons, 
discussed above, for extending the exemption to other nonprofit 
organizations. The Departments are not aware of any institutions of 
higher education that arrange student health insurance coverage and 
object to the Mandate based on non-religious moral convictions. But 
because the Departments have been sued by several institutions of 
higher education that arrange student health insurance coverage and 
object to the Mandate based on religious beliefs and by several 
nonprofit organizations with moral objections, the Departments believe 
the existence of institutions of higher education with non-religious 
moral objections, or the possible formation of such entities in the 
future, is sufficiently possible to justify including protections for 
such entities in these final rules.
    The Departments conclude that this aspect of the exemption is 
likely to have a minimal impact on contraceptive coverage for women at 
institutions of higher education. As noted above, the Departments are 
not aware of any institutions of higher education that would currently 
qualify for the objection. In addition, only a minority of students in 
higher education receive health insurance coverage from plans arranged 
by their colleges or universities, as opposed to from other sources, 
and an even smaller number receive such coverage from schools objecting 
to contraceptive coverage. Exempting institutions of higher education 
that object to contraceptive coverage based on moral convictions does 
not affect student health insurance contraceptive coverage at the vast 
majority of institutions of higher education. The exemption simply 
makes it legal under federal law for institutions to adhere to moral 
convictions that oppose contraception, without facing penalties for 
non-compliance that could threaten their existence. This removes a 
possible barrier to diversity in the nation's higher education system, 
because it makes it easier for students to attend institutions of 
higher education that hold those views, if the institutions exist or 
come into being and students choose to attend them. Moreover, because 
institutions of higher education have no legal obligation to sponsor 
student health insurance coverage, providing this moral exemption 
removes an obstacle to such institutions sponsoring student health 
insurance coverage, thus possibly encouraging

[[Page 57620]]

more widespread health insurance coverage.
    As noted above, after seeking public comment on whether the final 
moral exemptions rules should be extended to include non-federal 
governmental entities, the Departments have concluded they should only 
include non-governmental entities. For the same reasons, the 
Departments are inserting a reference into Sec.  147.133(a)(1)(ii) 
specifying that it includes an institution of higher education ``which 
is non-governmental.'' This language is parallel to the same limiting 
phrase used in the religious exemptions rule governing institutions of 
higher education, at Sec.  147.132(a)(1)(ii). Thus, the first sentence 
of Sec.  147.133(a)(1)(ii) is finalized to read: ``An institution of 
higher education as defined in 20 U.S.C. 1002, which is non-
governmental, in its arrangement of student health insurance coverage, 
to the extent that institution objects as specified in paragraph (a)(2) 
of this section.'' The remaining text of Sec.  147.133(a)(1)(ii) is 
finalized without change.
5. Health Insurance Issuers (45 CFR 147.133(a)(1)(iii))
    The Moral IFC extended the exemption, in Sec.  147.133(a)(1)(iii), 
to health insurance issuers offering group or individual health 
insurance coverage that sincerely hold their own moral convictions 
opposed to providing coverage for contraceptive services. The issuer 
exemption only applied to the group health plan if the plan itself was 
also exempt under an exemption for the plan sponsor or individuals. In 
these final rules, the Departments finalize Sec.  147.133(a)(1)(iii) 
without change.
    As discussed above, where the exemption for plan sponsors or 
institutions of higher education applies, issuers are exempt under 
those sections with respect to providing contraceptive coverage in 
those plans. The issuer exemption in Sec.  147.133(a)(1)(iii) adds to 
that protection, but the additional protection operates in a different 
way than the plan sponsor exemption operates. The only plan sponsors--
or in the case of individual insurance coverage, individuals--who are 
eligible to purchase or enroll in health insurance coverage offered by 
an exempt issuer that does not cover some or all contraceptive 
services, are plan sponsors or individuals who themselves object and 
whose plans are otherwise exempt based on that objection. An exempt 
issuer can then offer an exempt product to an entity or individual that 
is exempt based on either the moral exemptions for entities and 
individuals, or the religious exemptions for entities and individuals. 
Thus, the issuer exemption specifies that, where a health insurance 
issuer providing group health insurance coverage is exempt under 
paragraph (a)(1)(iii), the plan remains subject to any requirement to 
provide coverage for contraceptive services under Guidelines issued 
under Sec.  147.130(a)(1)(iv), unless the plan is otherwise exempt from 
that requirement. Accordingly, the only plan sponsors, or in the case 
of individual insurance coverage, individuals, who are eligible to 
purchase or enroll in health insurance coverage offered by an exempt 
issuer under this paragraph (a)(1)(iii) that does not include some or 
all contraceptive services, are plan sponsors or individuals who 
themselves object and are exempt.
    Under these rules, issuers that hold their own objections based on 
sincerely held moral convictions could issue policies that omit 
contraception to plan sponsors or individuals that are otherwise exempt 
based on their moral convictions, or if they are exempt based on their 
religious beliefs under the companion final rules published elsewhere 
in today's Federal Register. Likewise, issuers with sincerely held 
religious beliefs, that are exempt under those companion final rules, 
could likewise issue policies that omit contraception to plan sponsors 
or individuals that are otherwise exempt based on either their 
religious beliefs or their moral convictions.
    Some commenters supported including this exemption for issuers in 
these rules, both to protect the moral convictions of issuers, and so 
that, in the future, issuers would be free to organize that may wish to 
specifically serve plan sponsors and individuals that object to 
contraception based on religious or moral reasons. Other commenters 
objected to including an exemption for issuers. Some commenters stated 
that issuers cannot exercise moral convictions, while others stated 
that exempting issuers would threaten contraceptive coverage for women. 
Some commenters stated that it was arbitrary and capricious for the 
Departments to provide an exemption for issuers if they do not know 
that issuers with qualifying moral objections exist.
    The Departments consider it appropriate to provide this exemption 
for issuers. Because the issuer exemption only applies where an 
independently exempt policyholder (entity or individual) is involved, 
the issuer exemption will not serve to remove contraceptive coverage 
obligations from any plan or plan sponsor that is not also exempt, nor 
will it prevent other issuers from being required to provide 
contraceptive coverage in individual or group insurance coverage.
    The issuer exemption serves several interests, even though the 
Departments are not currently aware of existing issuers that would use 
it. As noted by some commenters, allowing issuers to be exempt, at 
least with respect to plan sponsors, plans, and individuals that 
independently qualify for an exemption, will remove a possible obstacle 
to issuers with moral convictions being organized in the future to 
serve entities and individuals that want plans that respect their 
religious beliefs or moral convictions. Furthermore, permitting issuers 
to object to offering contraceptive coverage based on sincerely held 
moral convictions will allow issuers to continue to offer coverage to 
plan sponsors and individuals, without subjecting them to liability 
under section 2713(a)(4), or related provisions, for their failure to 
provide contraceptive coverage. In this way, the issuer exemption 
serves to protect objecting issuers both from being required to issue 
policies that cover contraception in violation of the issuers' 
sincerely held moral convictions and from being asked or required to 
issue policies that omit contraceptive coverage to non-exempt entities 
or individuals, thus subjecting the issuers to potential liability if 
those plans are not exempt from the Guidelines.
    The Departments reject the proposition that issuers cannot exercise 
moral convictions. Many federal health care conscience laws and 
regulations protect issuers or plans specifically. For example, as 
discussed above, 42 U.S.C. 1395w-22(j)(3)(B) and 1396u-2(b)(3) protect 
plans or managed care organizations in Medicare Advantage or Medicaid. 
The Weldon Amendment specifically protects, among other entities, HMOs, 
health insurance plans, and ``any other kind of health care 
facility[ies], organization[s] or plan[s]'' as a ``health care entity'' 
from being required to provide coverage of, or pay for, abortions. See, 
for example, Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018, Public Law 115-141, 
Div. H, Sec. 507(d).\68\ The most recently enacted Consolidated 
Appropriations Act declares that Congress supports a

[[Page 57621]]

``conscience clause'' to protect moral convictions concerning ``the 
provision of contraceptive coverage by health insurance plans.'' See 
id. at Div. E, Sec. 808.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \68\ ACA section 1553 protects an identically defined group of 
``health care entities,'' including provider-sponsored 
organizations, HMOs, health insurance plans, and ``any other kind of 
. . . plan,'' from being subject to discrimination on the basis that 
it does not provide any health care item or service furnishing for 
the purpose of assisted suicide, euthanasia, mercy killing, and the 
like. ACA section 1553, 42 U.S.C. 18113.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The issuer exemption does not specifically include third party 
administrators, for the reasons discussed in the companion Religious 
IFC and final rules concerning religious beliefs issued 
contemporaneously with these final rules and published elsewhere in 
today's Federal Register.\69\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \69\ The exemption for issuers, as outlined here, does not make 
a distinction among issuers based on whether they are publicly 
traded, unlike the plan sponsor exemption for employers. Because the 
issuer exemption operates more narrowly than the exemption for plan 
sponsors operates, in the ways described here (i.e., the issuer 
exemption does not operate unless the plan sponsor or individual, as 
applicable, is also exempt), and exists in part to help preserve 
market options for objecting plan sponsors and individuals, the 
Departments consider it appropriate to not draw such a distinction 
among issuers.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

6. Description of the Moral Objection (45 CFR 147.133(a)(2))
    The Moral IFC set forth the scope of the moral objection of 
objecting entities in Sec.  147.133(a)(2), so that it applies to the 
extent an entity described in paragraph (a)(1), based on sincerely held 
moral convictions, objects to ``establishing, maintaining, providing, 
offering, or arranging'' either ``coverage or payments'' for 
contraceptives, or ``for a plan, issuer, or third party administrator 
that provides or arranges such coverage or payments.'' The Departments 
are finalizing this exemption with structural changes separating the 
second half of the sentence into separate subparagraphs, so as to more 
clearly specify, as set forth in the Moral IFC text, that the objection 
may pertain either to coverage or payments for contraceptives, or to a 
plan, issuer, or third party administrator that provides or arranges 
such coverage or payments.
    Some commenters observed that, by allowing exempt plan sponsors to 
object to ``some or all'' contraceptives, this might yield a cafeteria-
style approach where different plan sponsors choose various 
combinations of contraceptives that they wish to cover. Some commenters 
further observed that this might create a burden on issuers or third 
party administrators.
    The Departments have concluded, however, that just as the previous 
exemption rules allowed certain religious plan sponsors to object to 
some or all contraceptives, it is appropriate to maintain that 
flexibility for entities covered by the expanded exemption. These rules 
do not require any issuer or third party administrator to contract with 
an exempt entity or individual if the issuer or third party 
administrator does not wish to do so, including because the issuer or 
third party administrator does not wish to offer an unusual plan 
variation. These rules simply remove the federal Mandate, in some 
cases, where it could have led to penalties on an employer, issuer, or 
third party administrator if they wished to sponsor, provide, or 
administer a plan that omits contraceptive coverage in the presence of 
a qualifying moral objection. That approach is consistent with the 
approach under the previous regulations, which did not require issuers 
and third party administrators to contract with exempt plans of houses 
of worship or integrated auxiliaries if they did not wish to do so.
    The definition does not specify that the moral convictions that can 
support an exemption need to be non-religious moral convictions. We 
find it unnecessary to limit the definition in that way. Even though 
moral convictions need not be based on religious beliefs, religious 
beliefs can have a moral component. It is not always clear whether a 
moral conviction is based on religious tenets. As noted in Welsh, a 
moral conviction can be ``purely ethical or moral in source and content 
but that nevertheless . . . occupy in the life of that individual a 
place parallel to that filled by God [and] function as a religion in 
his life.'' 398 U.S at 340. One reason for providing exemptions for 
moral convictions is so that the government need not engage in the 
potentially difficult task of parsing which convictions are religious 
and which are not. If sincerely held moral convictions supporting an 
exemption are religious, they will be encompassed by the exemption for 
sincerely held religious beliefs. If the moral convictions are not also 
religious, or if their religious quality is unclear but they are 
ethical or moral, they can qualify as sincerely held moral convictions 
under these rules if the other requirements of these rules are met.
    The Departments are not aware of any entities that qualify for an 
exemption under the religious exemptions finalized elsewhere in today's 
Federal Register, but not under the moral exemptions finalized here, 
such as publicly traded entities. If publicly traded entities object to 
the Mandate, it seems unlikely their objection is based on moral 
convictions and not religious beliefs, given that many more objections 
to the Mandate have been based on religious beliefs. Thus, the 
Departments find it unlikely that they would be faced with a situation 
where a publicly traded entity, for example, has an objection to the 
contraceptive Mandate, but it is not clear whether that objection is 
based on sincerely held religious beliefs or merely based on sincerely 
held moral convictions.
7. Individuals (45 CFR 147.133(b))
    The previous regulations did not provide an exemption for objecting 
individuals. The Moral IFC provided such an exemption for objecting 
individuals (referred to here as the ``individual exemption''), using 
the following language at Sec.  147.133(b): ``Objecting individuals''. 
Guidelines issued under Sec.  147.130(a)(1)(iv) by the Health Resources 
and Services Administration must not provide for or support the 
requirement of coverage or payments for contraceptive services with 
respect to individuals who object as specified in this paragraph (b), 
and nothing in Sec.  147.130(a)(1)(iv), 26 CFR 54.9815-2713(a)(1)(iv), 
or 29 CFR 2590.715-2713(a)(1)(iv) may be construed to prevent a willing 
health insurance issuer offering group or individual health insurance 
coverage, and as applicable, a willing plan sponsor of a group health 
plan, from offering a separate policy, certificate or contract of 
insurance or a separate group health plan or benefit package option, to 
any individual who objects to coverage or payments for some or all 
contraceptive services based on sincerely held moral convictions.''
    The Departments finalize this language, with changes in response to 
public comments in some of the text and in a new sentence at the end of 
the paragraph that clarify how the exemption applies.
    Section 147.133(b) sets forth a special rule pertaining to 
individuals (referred to here as the ``individual exemption''). This 
rule exempts plans of certain individuals with moral objections to 
contraceptive coverage where the plan sponsor and, as applicable, 
issuer is willing to provide a plan compliant with the individuals' 
objections to such plan sponsors or individuals, as applicable.
    Some commenters supported this exemption as providing appropriate 
protections for the moral convictions of individuals who obtain their 
insurance coverage in such places as the individual market or 
exchanges, or who obtain coverage from a group health plan sponsor that 
does not object to coverage of contraceptives but is willing (and, as 
applicable, the issuer is also willing) to provide coverage consistent 
with an individual's moral objections. They commented that this 
exemption

[[Page 57622]]

would free individuals from having their moral convictions placed in 
tension with their desire for health coverage. They also contended that 
the individual exemption would not undermine any government interests 
behind the contraceptive Mandate, since the individuals would be 
choosing not to have the coverage. Some commenters also observed that, 
by specifying that the individual exemption only operates where the 
plan sponsor and issuer, as applicable, are willing to provide coverage 
that is consistent with the objection, the exemption would not impose 
burdens on the insurance market because the possibility of such burdens 
would be factored into the willingness of an employer or issuer to 
offer such coverage.
    Other commenters disagreed and contended that allowing the 
individual exemption would cause burden and confusion in the insurance 
market. Some commenters also suggested that the individual exemption 
should not allow the offering of a separate group health plan because 
doing so could cause various administrative burdens.
    The Departments agree with the commenters who suggested the 
individual exemption will not burden the insurance market, and, 
therefore, conclude that it is appropriate to provide the individual 
exemption where a plan sponsor and, as applicable, issuer are willing 
to cooperate in doing so. The Departments note that this individual 
exemption only operates in the case where the issuer is willing to 
provide the separate option; in the case of coverage provided by a 
group health plan sponsor, where the plan sponsor is willing; or in the 
case where both a plan sponsor and issuer are involved, both are 
willing. The Departments conclude that it is appropriate to provide the 
individual exemption so that the Mandate will not serve as an obstacle 
among these various options. Practical difficulties that may be 
implicated by one option or another will likely be factored into 
whether plan sponsors and issuers are willing to offer particular 
options in individual cases. But the Departments do not wish to pose an 
obstacle to the offering of such coverage.
    The Departments note that their decision is consistent with the 
decision by Congress to provide protections in certain contexts for 
individuals who object to prescribing or providing contraceptives 
contrary to their moral convictions. See, for example, Consolidated 
Appropriations Act of 2018, Div. E, Sec. 726(c) (Mar. 23, 2018). While 
some commenters argued that such express protections are narrow, 
Congress likewise provided that, if the District of Columbia requires 
``the provision of contraceptive coverage by health insurance plans,'' 
``it is the intent of Congress that any legislation enacted on such 
issue should include a `conscience clause' which provides exceptions 
for religious beliefs and moral convictions''. Id. at Div. E, Sec. 808. 
A moral exemption for individuals would not be effective if the 
government did not, at the same time, permit issuers and group health 
plans to provide individuals with policies that comply with their moral 
convictions.
    The individual exemption extends to the coverage unit in which the 
plan participant, or subscriber in the individual market, is enrolled 
(for instance, to family coverage covering the participant and his or 
her beneficiaries enrolled under the plan), but does not relieve the 
plan's or issuer's obligation to comply with the Mandate with respect 
to the group health plan generally, or, as applicable, to any other 
individual policies the issuer offers. Thus, this individual exemption 
allows plan sponsors and issuers that do not specifically object to 
contraceptive coverage to offer morally acceptable coverage to their 
participants or subscribers who do object, while offering coverage that 
includes contraception to participants or subscribers who do not 
object. The July 2013 regulations stated that, because employees of 
objecting houses of worship and integrated auxiliaries are relatively 
likely to oppose contraception, exempting those organizations ``does 
not undermine the governmental interests furthered by the contraceptive 
coverage requirement.'' (78 FR 39874). For parallel reasons, as the 
Departments stated in the Moral IFC (83 FR at 47853 through 47854), 
this individual exemption does not undermine the governmental interests 
furthered by the contraceptive coverage requirement, because, when the 
exemption is applicable, the individual does not want the coverage, and 
therefore would not use the objectionable items even if they were 
covered.
    This individual exemption can apply with respect to individuals in 
plans sponsored by private employers or governmental employers. For 
example, in one case brought against the Departments, the State of 
Missouri enacted a law under which the state is not permitted to 
discriminate against insurance issuers that offer group health 
insurance policies without coverage for contraception based on 
employees' religious beliefs ``or moral convictions,'' or against the 
individual employees who accept such offers. See Wieland, 196 F. Supp. 
3d at 1015-16 (quoting Mo. Rev. Stat. 191.724). Under the individual 
exemption in these rules, employers sponsoring governmental plans would 
be free to honor the moral objections of individual employees by 
offering them plans that omit contraceptive coverage, even if those 
governmental entities do not object to offering contraceptive coverage 
in general.
    In the separate companion IFC to the Moral IFC--the Religious IFC--
the Departments, at Sec.  147.133(b), provided a similar individual 
exemption, but we used slightly different operative language. Where the 
Moral IFC said a willing issuer and plan sponsor may offer ``a separate 
policy, certificate or contract of insurance or a separate group health 
plan or benefit package option, to any individual who objects'' under 
the individual exemption, the Religious IFC described what may be 
offered to objecting individuals as ``a separate benefit package 
option, or a separate policy, certificate or contract of insurance.'' 
Some commenters observed this difference and asked whether the language 
was intended to encompass the same options. The Departments intended 
these descriptions to include the same scope of options. Some 
commenters suggested that the individual exemption should not allow the 
offering of ``a separate group health plan,'' because doing so could 
cause various administrative burdens. The Departments disagree, since 
group health plan sponsors and group and individual health insurance 
issuers would be free to decline to provide that option, including 
because of administrative burdens. In addition, the Departments wish to 
clarify that, where an employee claims the exemption, a willing issuer 
and a willing employer may, where otherwise permitted, offer the 
employee participation in a group health insurance policy or benefit 
option that complies with the employee's objection. Consequently, these 
rules finalize the individual exemption by making a technical change to 
the language to adopt the formulation, ``a separate policy, certificate 
or contract of insurance or a separate group health plan or benefit 
package option, to any group health plan sponsor (with respect to an 
individual) or individual, as applicable, who objects.''
    This individual exemption cannot be used to force a plan (or its 
sponsor) or an issuer to provide coverage omitting contraception, or, 
with respect to health insurance coverage, to prevent the application 
of state law that requires coverage of such contraceptives or

[[Page 57623]]

sterilization. Nor can the individual exemption be construed to require 
the guaranteed availability of coverage omitting contraception to a 
plan sponsor or individual who does not have a sincerely held moral 
objection. This individual exemption is limited to the requirement to 
provide contraceptive coverage under section 2713(a)(4), and does not 
affect any other federal or state law governing the plan or coverage. 
Thus, if there are other applicable laws or plan terms governing the 
benefits, these rules do not affect such other laws or terms.
    The Departments received numerous comments about the administrative 
burden from the potential variations in moral convictions held by 
individuals. Some commenters welcomed the ability of individuals 
covered by the individual exemption to be able to assert an objection 
to either some or all contraceptives, while others expressed concern 
that the variations in the kinds of contraceptive coverage to which 
individuals object might make it difficult for willing plan sponsors 
and issuers to provide coverage that complies with the moral 
convictions of an exempt individual.
    If an individual only objects to some contraceptives, and the 
individual's issuer and, as applicable, plan sponsor are willing to 
provide the individual a package of benefits omitting such coverage, 
but for practical reasons can only do so by providing the individual 
with coverage that omits all--not just some--contraceptives, the 
Departments believe that it favors individual freedom and market 
choice, and does not harm others, to allow the issuer and plan sponsor 
to provide, in that case, a plan omitting all contraceptives if the 
individual is willing to enroll in that plan. The language of the 
individual exemption set forth in the Moral IFC implied this conclusion 
by specifying that the Guidelines requirement of contraceptive coverage 
did not apply where the individual objected to some or all 
contraceptives. Notably, that language differed from the language 
applicable to the exemptions under Sec.  147.133(a), which specifies 
that those exemptions apply ``to the extent'' of the moral objections, 
so that, as discussed above, they include only those contraceptive 
methods to which the objection applied. In response to comments 
suggesting the language of the individual exemption was not 
sufficiently clear on this distinction, however, the Departments in 
these rules finalize the individual exemption at Sec.  147.133(b), with 
the following change, by adding the following sentence at the end of 
the paragraph: ``Under this exemption, if an individual objects to some 
but not all contraceptive services, but the issuer, and as applicable, 
plan sponsor, are willing to provide the plan sponsor or individual, as 
applicable, with a separate policy, certificate or contract of 
insurance or a separate group health plan or benefit package option 
that omits all contraceptives, and the individual agrees, then the 
exemption applies as if the individual objects to all contraceptive 
services.''
    Some commenters asked for plain language guidance and examples 
about how the individual exemption might apply in the context of 
employer-sponsored insurance. Here is one such example. An employee is 
enrolled in group health coverage through her employer. The plan is 
fully insured. If the employee has sincerely held moral convictions 
objecting to her plan including coverage for contraceptives, she could 
raise this with her employer. If the employer is willing to offer her a 
plan that omits contraceptives, the employer could discuss this with 
the insurance agent or issuer. If the issuer is also willing to offer 
the employer, with respect to the employee, a group health insurance 
policy that omits contraceptive coverage, the individual exemption 
would make it legal for the group health insurance issuer to omit 
contraceptives for her and her beneficiaries under her policy, for her 
employer to sponsor that plan for her, and for the issuer to issue such 
a plan to the employer, to cover that employee. This would not affect 
other employees' plans--those plans would still be subject to the 
Mandate and would continue to cover contraceptives. But if either the 
employer, or the issuer, is not willing (for whatever reason) to offer 
a plan or a policy for that employee that omits contraceptive coverage, 
these rules do not require them to do so. The employee would have the 
choice of staying enrolled in a plan with its coverage of 
contraceptives, not enrolling in that plan, seeking coverage elsewhere, 
or seeking employment elsewhere.
    For all these reasons, these rules adopt the individual exemption 
language from the Religious IFC with changes, to read as follows: ``(b) 
Objecting individuals. Guidelines issued under Sec.  147.130(a)(1)(iv) 
by the Health Resources and Services Administration must not provide 
for or support the requirement of coverage or payments for 
contraceptive services with respect to individuals who object as 
specified in this paragraph (b), and nothing in Sec.  
147.130(a)(1)(iv), 26 CFR 54.9815-2713(a)(1)(iv), or 29 CFR 2590.715-
2713(a)(1)(iv) may be construed to prevent a willing health insurance 
issuer offering group or individual health insurance coverage, and as 
applicable, a willing plan sponsor of a group health plan, from 
offering a separate policy, certificate or contract of insurance or a 
separate group health plan or benefit package option, to any group 
health plan sponsor (with respect to an individual) or individual, as 
applicable, who objects to coverage or payments for some or all 
contraceptive services based on sincerely held moral convictions. Under 
this exemption, if an individual objects to some but not all 
contraceptive services, but the issuer, and as applicable, plan 
sponsor, are willing to provide the plan sponsor or individual, as 
applicable, with a separate policy, certificate or contract of 
insurance or a separate group health plan or benefit package option 
that omits all contraceptives, and the individual agrees, then the 
exemption applies as if the individual objects to all contraceptive 
services.''
8. Accommodation (45 CFR 147.131, 26 CFR 54.9815-2713A, 29 CFR 
2590.715-2713A)
    The previous regulations did not offer the accommodation process to 
entities with moral non-religious objections. The Religious IFC amended 
the accommodation regulations to offer it to all entities that are 
exempt on the basis of religious beliefs under Sec.  147.132, as an 
optional process in which such entities could participate voluntarily. 
The Moral IFC did not change that accommodation process, but inserted 
references in it to the new section Sec.  147.133, alongside the 
references to section Sec.  147.132. These changes made entities 
eligible for the voluntary accommodation process if they are exempt on 
the basis of moral convictions. The references were inserted in 45 CFR 
147.131, 26 CFR 54.9815-2713A, and 29 CFR 2590.715-2713A.
    In these rules, the Departments finalize, without change, the Moral 
IFC's revisions of 45 CFR 147.131, 26 CFR 54.9815-2713A, and 29 CFR 
2590.715-2713A. The operation of the accommodation process, changes 
made in the Religious IFC, and public comments concerning the 
accommodation, are more fully described in the Religious IFC, and in 
the companion final rules concerning the religious exemptions and 
accommodation, published elsewhere in today's Federal Register. Those 
descriptions are incorporated here by reference to the extent they 
apply to these rules.

[[Page 57624]]

    Many commenters supported extending the accommodation process to 
entities with objections based on moral convictions. Others objected to 
doing so, raising arguments parallel to their objections to creating 
exemptions for group health plan sponsors with moral convictions. For 
much the same reasons discussed above concerning why the Departments 
find it appropriate to exempt entities with moral objections to 
contraceptive coverage, the Departments find it appropriate to extend 
the optional accommodation process to these entities. The Departments 
observe that, to the extent such entities wish to use the process, it 
will not be an obstacle to contraceptive coverage, but will instead 
help deliver contraceptive coverage to women who receive health 
coverage from such entities while respecting the moral convictions of 
the entities. The Departments are not aware of entities with non-
religious moral convictions against contraceptive coverage that also 
consider the accommodation acceptable and would opt into it, but we are 
aware of a small number of entities with non-religious moral objections 
to the Mandate. The Departments, therefore, continue to consider it 
appropriate to extend the optional accommodation to such entities in 
case any wish to use it. Below, albeit based on very limited data, the 
Departments estimate that a small number of entities with non-religious 
moral objections may use the accommodation process.
9. Definition of Contraceptives for the Purpose of These Final Rules
    The previous regulations did not define contraceptive services. The 
Guidelines issued in 2011 included, under ``Contraceptive methods and 
counseling,'' ``[a]ll Food and Drug Administration approved 
contraceptive methods, sterilization procedures, and patient education 
and counseling for all women with reproductive capacity.'' The previous 
regulations concerning the exemption and the accommodation used the 
terms ``contraceptive services'' and ``contraceptive coverage'' as 
catch-all terms to encompass all of those Guidelines requirements. The 
2016 update to the Guidelines are similarly worded. Under 
``Contraception,'' they include the ``full range of contraceptive 
methods for women currently identified by the U.S. Food and Drug 
Administration,'' ``instruction in fertility awareness-based methods,'' 
and ``[c]ontraceptive care'' to ``include contraceptive counseling, 
initiation of contraceptive use, and follow-up care (e.g., management, 
and evaluation as well as changes to and removal or discontinuation of 
the contraceptive method).'' \70\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \70\ ``Women's Preventive Services Guidelines,'' HRSA (last 
reviewed Oct. 2017), https://www.hrsa.gov/womens-guidelines-2016/index.html.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    To more explicitly state that the expanded exemptions encompass any 
of the contraceptive or sterilization services, items, procedures, or 
related patient education or information that have been required under 
the Guidelines, the Moral IFC included a definition of contraceptive 
services, benefits or coverage, at 45 CFR 147.133(c). These rules 
finalize that definition without change.
10. Severability
    The Departments finalize, without change, the severability clause 
set forth at Sec.  147.133(d).

C. Other Public Comments

1. Items Approved as Contraceptives But Used To Treat Existing 
Conditions
    Some commenters noted that some drugs included in the preventive 
services contraceptive Mandate can also be useful for treating certain 
existing health conditions, and that women use them for non-
contraceptive purposes. Certain commenters urged the Departments to 
clarify that the final rules do not permit employers to exclude from 
coverage medically necessary prescription drugs used for non-preventive 
services. Some commenters suggested that moral objections to the 
Mandate should not be permitted in cases where contraceptive methods 
are used to treat such existing medical conditions and not for 
preventive purposes, even if those contraceptive methods can also be 
used for contraceptive purposes.
    Section 2713(a)(4) only applies to ``preventive'' care and 
screenings. The statute does not allow the Guidelines to mandate 
coverage of services provided solely for a non-preventive use, such as 
the treatment of an existing condition. The Guidelines implementing 
this section of the statute are consistent with that narrow authority. 
They state repeatedly that they apply to ``preventive'' services or 
care.\71\ The requirement in the Guidelines concerning 
``contraception'' specifies several times that it encompasses 
``contraceptives,'' that is, medical products, methods, and services 
applied for ``contraceptive'' uses. The Guidelines do not require 
coverage of care and screenings that are non-preventive, and the 
contraception portion of those Guidelines do not require coverage of 
medical products, methods, care, and screenings that are non-
contraceptive in purpose or use. The Guidelines' inclusion of 
contraceptive services requires coverage of contraceptive methods as a 
type of preventive service only when a drug that FDA has approved for 
contraceptive use is prescribed in whole or in part for such purpose or 
intended use. Section 2713(a)(4) does not authorize the Departments to 
require coverage of drugs prescribed exclusively for a non-
contraceptive and non-preventive use to treat an existing 
condition.\72\ The extent to which contraceptives are covered to treat 
non-preventive conditions would be determined by application of the 
requirement section 1302(b)(1)(F) of the ACA to cover prescription 
drugs (where applicable), implementing regulations at 45 CFR 156.122, 
and 156.125, and plans' decisions about the basket of medicines to 
cover for these conditions.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \71\ Id.
    \72\ The Departments previously cited the IOM's listing of 
existing conditions that contraceptive drugs can be used to treat 
(menstrual disorders, acne, and pelvic pain), and said of those uses 
that ``there are demonstrated preventive health benefits from 
contraceptives relating to conditions other than pregnancy.'' 77 FR 
8727 & n.7. This was not, however, an assertion that section 
2713(a)(4) or the Guidelines require coverage of ``contraceptive'' 
methods when prescribed for an exclusively non-contraceptive, non-
preventive use. Instead, it was an observation that such drugs--
generally referred to as ``contraceptives''--also have some 
alternate beneficial uses to treat existing conditions. For the 
purposes of these final rules, the Departments clarify here that the 
previous reference to the benefits of using contraceptive drugs 
exclusively for some non-contraceptive and non-preventive uses to 
treat existing conditions did not mean that the Guidelines require 
coverage of such uses, and consequently is not a reason to refrain 
from offering the exemptions provided here. Where a drug approved by 
the FDA for contraceptive use is prescribed for both a contraceptive 
use and a non-contraceptive use, the Guidelines (to the extent they 
apply) would require its coverage. Where a drug approved by the FDA 
for contraceptive use is prescribed exclusively for a non-
contraceptive and non-preventive use to treat an existing condition, 
it would be outside the scope of the Guidelines and the 
contraceptive Mandate.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Some commenters observed that pharmacy claims do not include a 
medical diagnosis code, so that plans may be unable to discern whether 
a drug approved by FDA for contraceptive uses is actually applied for a 
preventive or contraceptive use. Section 2713(a)(4), however, draws a 
distinction between preventive and other kinds of care and screenings. 
That subsection does not authorize the Departments to impose a coverage 
mandate of services that are not at least partly applied for a 
preventive use, and the Guidelines themselves do not require coverage 
of care unless it is contraceptive in purpose. These rules do not 
prohibit issuers from covering drugs and devices that are approved for 
contraceptive uses even when those drugs and devices are

[[Page 57625]]

prescribed for non-preventive, non-contraceptive purposes. As discussed 
above, these final rules do not purport to delineate the items HRSA 
will include in the Guidelines, but only concern expanded exemptions 
and accommodations that apply if the Guidelines require contraceptive 
coverage. Therefore, the Departments do not consider it appropriate to 
specify in these final rules that, under section 2713(a)(4), exempt 
organizations must provide coverage for drugs or items prescribed 
exclusively for a non-contraceptive and non-preventive use to treat an 
existing condition.
2. Comments Concerning Regulatory Impact
    Some commenters agreed with the Departments' statement in the Moral 
IFC that the moral exemptions are likely to affect only a very small 
number of women otherwise receiving coverage under the Mandate. Other 
commenters disagreed, stating that the exemptions could take 
contraceptive coverage away from many or most women. Still others 
opposed establishing the exemptions, but contended that accurately 
determining the number of women affected by the exemptions is not 
possible. Public comments included various statements that these 
exemptions would impact coverage for a large number of women, while 
others stated they would affect only a very small number. But few, if 
any, public commenters provided data predicting a precise number of 
entities that would make use of the exemptions for moral convictions 
nor a precise number of employees that would potentially be affected.
    After reviewing the public comments, the Departments do not find 
the suggestions of commenters who predicted a very large impact any 
more reliable than the estimates set forth in the Religious and Moral 
IFCs. Therefore, the Departments conclude that the estimates of 
regulatory impact made in the Religious and Moral IFCs are still the 
best estimates available. The Departments' estimates are discussed in 
more detail in the following section.

III. Economic Impact and Paperwork Burden

    The Departments have examined the impacts of these final rules as 
required by Executive Order 12866 on Regulatory Planning and Review 
(September 30, 1993), Executive Order 13563 on Improving Regulation and 
Regulatory Review (January 18, 2011), the Regulatory Flexibility Act 
(RFA) (September 19, 1980, Pub. L. 96-354, section1102(b) of the Social 
Security Act, section 202 of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 
(March 22, 1995; Pub. L. 104-4), Executive Order 13132 on Federalism 
(August 4, 1999), the Congressional Review Act (5 U.S.C. 804(2)) and 
Executive Order 13771 on Reducing Regulation and Controlling Regulatory 
Costs (January 30, 2017).

A. Executive Orders 12866 and 13563--Department of HHS and Department 
of Labor

    Executive Orders 12866 and 13563 direct agencies to assess all 
costs and benefits of available regulatory alternatives and, if 
regulation is necessary, to select regulatory approaches that maximize 
net benefits (including potential economic, environmental, and public 
health and safety effects; distributive impacts; and equity). Executive 
Order 13563 emphasizes the importance of quantifying both costs and 
benefits, reducing costs, harmonizing rules, and promoting flexibility.
    Section 3(f) of Executive Order 12866 defines a ``significant 
regulatory action'' as an action that is likely to result in a 
regulation: (1) Having an annual effect on the economy of $100 million 
or more in any 1 year, or adversely and materially affecting a sector 
of the economy, productivity, competition, jobs, the environment, 
public health or safety, or state, local, or tribal governments or 
communities (also referred to as ``economically significant''); (2) 
creating a serious inconsistency or otherwise interfering with an 
action taken or planned by another agency; (3) materially altering the 
budgetary impacts of entitlement grants, user fees, or loan programs or 
the rights and obligations of recipients thereof; or (4) raising novel 
legal or policy issues arising out of legal mandates, the President's 
priorities, or the principles set forth in the Executive Order.
    A regulatory impact analysis must be prepared for major rules with 
economically significant effects ($100 million or more in any 1 year), 
and an ``economically significant'' regulatory action is subject to 
review by OMB. As discussed below regarding their anticipated effects, 
the these final rules are not likely to have economic impacts of $100 
million or more in any one year, and therefore do not meet the 
definition of ``economically significant'' under Executive Order 12866. 
However, OMB has determined that the actions are significant within the 
meaning of section 3(f)(4) of the Executive Order. Therefore, OMB has 
reviewed these final rules and the Departments have provided the 
following assessment of their impact.
1. Need for Regulatory Action
    The Religious IFC amended the Departments' July 2015 final 
regulations. The Moral IFC amended those regulations further, and added 
an additional rule at 45 CFR part 147.133. These final rules adopt as 
final, and further amend, the amendments made by the Moral IFC. The 
Departments do so in conjunction with the amendments made in the 
companion final rules concerning religious beliefs published elsewhere 
in today's Federal Register. These rules provide an exemption from the 
requirement to provide coverage for contraceptives and sterilization, 
established under the HRSA Guidelines, promulgated under section 
2713(a)(4), section 715(a)(1) of the ERISA, and section 9815(a)(1) of 
the Code, for certain entities and individuals with objections to 
compliance with the Mandate based on sincerely held moral convictions, 
and they revise the accommodation process by making the accommodation 
applicable to organizations with such convictions as an option. The 
exemption applies to certain individuals, nonprofit entities, 
institutions of higher education, issuers, and for-profit entities that 
do not have publicly traded ownership interests, that have a moral 
objection to some (or all) of the contraceptive and/or sterilization 
services covered by the Guidelines. Such action has been taken to 
provide for participation in the health insurance market by certain 
entities or individuals in a manner free from penalties for violating 
sincerely held moral convictions opposed to providing or receiving 
coverage of contraceptive services, to ensure the preventive services 
coverage requirement is implemented in a way consistent with 
longstanding federal conscience statutes, to prevent lawsuits of the 
kind that were filed against the Departments when the expanded 
exemption in these final rules was not offered, and for the other 
reasons discussed above.
2. Anticipated Effects
    The Departments acknowledge that expanding the exemption to include 
objections based on moral convictions might result in less insurance 
coverage of contraception for some women who may want the coverage. 
Although the Departments do not know the exact scope of that effect 
attributable to the moral exemption in these final rules, we believe it 
to be small.
    With respect to the exemption for nonprofit organizations with 
objections based on moral convictions, as noted

[[Page 57626]]

above, the Departments are aware of two small nonprofit organizations 
that have filed lawsuits raising non-religious moral objections to 
coverage of some contraceptives. Both of those entities have fewer than 
five employees enrolled in health coverage, and both require all of 
their employees to agree with their opposition to the nature of certain 
contraceptives subject to coverage under the Mandate.\73\ One of them 
has obtained a permanent injunction against any regulations 
implementing the contraceptive Mandate, and so will not be affected by 
these final rules. Based on comments submitted in response to 
rulemakings prior to the Moral and Religious IFCs, the Departments 
believe that at least one other similar entity exists.\74\ However, the 
Departments do not know how many similar entities exist and are 
currently unable to estimate the number of such entities. Lacking other 
information, we assume that the number is small. The Departments 
estimate it to be less than 10 and assume the exemption will be used by 
nine nonprofit entities.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \73\ Non-religious nonprofit organizations that engage in 
expressive activity generally have a First Amendment right to hire 
only people who share their moral convictions or will be respectful 
of them--including their convictions on whether the organization or 
others provide health coverage of contraception, or of certain items 
they view as being abortifacient.
    \74\ See, for example, Americans United for Life (``AUL'') 
Comment on CMA-9992-IFC2 at 10 (Nov. 1, 2011), available at http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=HHS-OS-2011-0023-59496, and 
AUL Comment on CMS-9968-P at 5 (Apr. 8, 2013), available at http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=CMS-2012-0031-79115.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The Departments also assume that those nine entities will operate 
in a fashion similar to the two similar entities of which we are aware, 
so that their employees will likely share their views against coverage 
of certain contraceptives. This is consistent with the conclusion in 
previous regulations that no significant burden or costs would result 
from exempting houses of worship and integrated auxiliaries. (See 76 FR 
46625 and 78 FR 39889). The Departments reached that conclusion without 
ultimately requiring that houses of worship and integrated auxiliaries 
only hire persons who agree with their views against contraception and 
without requiring that such entities actually oppose contraception in 
order to be exempt (in contrast, the exemption here requires the exempt 
entity to actually possess sincerely held moral convictions objecting 
to contraceptive coverage). In concluding that the exemption for houses 
of worship and integrated auxiliaries would result in no significant 
burden or costs, the Departments relied on the assumption that the 
employees of exempt houses of worship and integrated auxiliaries likely 
share their employers' opposition to contraceptive coverage.
    A similar assumption is appropriate with respect to the expanded 
exemption for nonprofit organizations with objections based on moral 
convictions. To the knowledge of the Departments, the vast majority of 
organizations objecting to the Mandate assert objections based on 
religious beliefs. The only nonprofit organizations of which they are 
aware that possess non-religious moral convictions against some or all 
contraceptive methods only hire persons who share their convictions. It 
is possible that the exemption for nonprofit organizations with moral 
convictions in these final rules could be used by a nonprofit 
organization that employs persons who do not share the organization's 
views on contraception, but it was also possible under the Departments' 
previous regulations that a house of worship or integrated auxiliary 
could employ persons who do not share their views on contraception.\75\ 
Although the Departments are unable to find sufficient data on this 
issue, we believe that there are far fewer nonprofit organizations 
opposed to contraceptive coverage on the basis of moral convictions 
than there are houses of worship or integrated auxiliaries with 
religious objections to such coverage. Based on the limited data 
available, the Departments believe the most likely effect of the 
expanded exemption for nonprofit entities is that it will be used by 
entities similar to the two entities that have sought an exemption 
through litigation, and whose employees also oppose certain 
contraceptive coverage. Therefore, the Departments expect that the 
moral exemption for nonprofit entities will have a minimal effect of 
reducing contraceptive coverage with respect to employees who want such 
coverage.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \75\ Cf., for example, Frank Newport, ``Americans, Including 
Catholics, Say Birth Control Is Morally OK,'' Gallup, (May 22, 
2012), http://www.gallup.com/poll/154799/americans-including-catholics-say-birth-control-morally.aspx (``Eighty-two percent of 
U.S. Catholics say birth control is morally acceptable'').
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    These rules extend the exemption to include institutions of higher 
education that arrange student coverage and have non-religious moral 
objections to the Mandate, and make exempt entities with moral 
objections eligible to avail themselves of the accommodation. The 
Departments are not aware of any institutions of higher education with 
this kind of non-religious moral convictions. Moreover, the Departments 
believe the overall number of entities that would object to the Mandate 
based on non-religious moral convictions is already very small. The 
only entities of which we are aware that have raised such objections 
are not institutions of higher education. Public comments did not 
reveal the existence of any institutions of higher education with such 
moral convictions. Therefore, for the purposes of estimating the 
anticipated effect of these final rules on contraceptive coverage of 
women who wish to receive such coverage, the Departments assume that--
at this time--no entities with non-religious moral objections to the 
Mandate will be institutions of higher education that arrange student 
coverage, and no other entities with non-religious moral objections 
will opt into the accommodation. We wish to make the expanded exemption 
and accommodation available to such entities in case they do exist or 
might come into existence, based on reasons similar to those given 
above for why the exemptions and accommodations are extended to other 
entities.
    The Departments believe that the exemption for issuers with 
objections based on moral convictions will not result in a distinct 
effect on contraceptive coverage for women who wish to receive it, 
because that exemption only applies in cases where plan sponsors or 
individuals are also otherwise exempt, and the effect of those 
exemptions is discussed elsewhere herein, or in the companion final 
rules concerning religious beliefs published elsewhere in today's 
Federal Register. The exemption for individuals that oppose 
contraceptive coverage based on sincerely held moral convictions will 
provide coverage that omits contraception for individuals that object 
to contraceptive coverage.
    The moral exemption will also cover for-profit entities that do not 
have publicly traded ownership interests and that have non-religious 
moral objections to the Mandate, if such entities exist. Some 
commenters agreed that the impact of these final rules would be no more 
than the Departments estimated in the Moral IFC, and some commenters 
stated the impact would be much smaller. Other commenters disagreed, 
suggesting that the expanded exemptions risked removing contraceptive 
coverage from more than 55 million women receiving the benefits of the 
preventive services Guidelines, or even risked removing contraceptive 
coverage from over 100 million women. Some commenters cited studies 
indicating that, nationally, unintended

[[Page 57627]]

pregnancies have large public costs, and the Mandate overall led to 
large out-of-pocket savings for women. These general comments did not, 
however, substantially assist the Departments in estimating the number 
of women that would potentially be affected by these exemptions for 
moral convictions specifically, or among them, how many unintended 
pregnancies would result, how many of the affected women would 
nevertheless use contraceptives not covered under the health plans of 
their objecting employers and, thus, be subject to the estimated 
transfer costs, or instead, how many women might avoid unintended 
pregnancies by changing their activities in other ways besides using 
contraceptives.
    Some of the comments opposing these exemptions assert that they 
will lead to a large number of entities dropping contraceptive 
coverage. The Departments disagree; they are aware of only two entities 
that hold non-religious moral convictions against contraceptive 
coverage. Both only hire employees that share their beliefs, and one 
will not be affected by these final rules because it is protected by an 
injunction from any regulations implementing the contraceptive Mandate. 
Commenters cited no other specific entities that might assert these 
moral convictions, and did not provide better data to estimate how many 
entities might exist. Likewise, the Departments find it unlikely that 
any of the vast majority of entities that covered contraceptives before 
this Mandate was announced in 2011 would terminate such coverage 
because of these exemptions based on moral convictions. The Departments 
also find it unlikely that a significant number of for-profit entities, 
whose plans include a significant number of women, omitted 
contraceptive coverage before the ACA on the basis of objections 
grounded in non-religious moral convictions, and would claim an 
exemption under these final rules. No such entities, or data concerning 
such entities, were identified by public commenters, nor are the 
Departments aware of any involved in litigation over the Mandate.
    Numerous for-profit entities claiming religious objections have 
filed suit challenging the Mandate. Among the over 200 entities that 
brought legal challenges, only two entities (less than 1 percent) 
raised non-religious moral objections--and both were nonprofit 
organizations. Among the general public, polls vary about religious 
beliefs, but one prominent poll shows that 89 percent of Americans say 
they believe in God.\76\ Among non-religious persons, only a very small 
percentage of the population appears to hold moral objections to 
contraception. A recent study found that only 2 percent of religiously 
unaffiliated persons believed using contraceptives is morally 
wrong.\77\ Combined, this suggests that 0.2 percent of Americans at 
most \78\ might believe contraceptives are morally wrong based on moral 
convictions but not religious beliefs. The Departments have no 
information about how many of those persons run closely held 
businesses, offer employer sponsored health insurance, and would make 
use of the expanded exemption for moral convictions set forth in these 
final rules. Given the large number of closely held entities that 
challenged the Mandate based on religious objections, the Departments 
assume that some similar for-profit entities with non-religious moral 
objections exist. But the Departments expect that it will be a 
comparatively small number of entities, since among the nonprofit 
litigants, only two were non-religious. Without data available to 
estimate the actual number of entities that will make use of the 
expanded exemption for for-profit entities without publicly traded 
ownership interests and with sincere moral objections to the Mandate, 
the Departments expect that fewer than 10 entities, if any, will do 
so--so the Departments assume nine for-profit entities will use the 
exemption in these final rules.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \76\ Frank Newport, ``Most Americans Still Believe in God,'' 
Gallup (June 29, 2016), http://www.gallup.com/poll/193271/americans-believe-god.aspx.
    \77\ Pew Research Center, ``Where the Public Stands on Religious 
Liberty vs. Nondiscrimination,'' Pew Research Center, 26 (Sept. 28, 
2016), http://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2016/09/Religious-Liberty-full-for-web.pdf.
    \78\ The study defined religiously ``unaffiliated'' as agnostic, 
atheist or ``nothing in particular'', id. at 8, as distinct from 
several versions of Protestants, or Catholics. ``Nothing in 
particular'' might have included some theists.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The moral exemption encompassing certain for-profit entities could 
result in the removal of contraceptive coverage from women who do not 
share their employers' views. The Departments used data from the 
Current Population Survey (CPS) and the Medical Expenditure Panel 
Survey-Insurance Component (MEPS-IC) to obtain an estimate of the 
number of policyholders that will be covered by the plans of the nine 
for-profit entities we assume may make use of these expanded 
exemptions.\79\ The average number of policyholders (9) in plans with 
under 100 employees was obtained. It is not known how many employees 
would be employed by the for-profit employers that might claim this 
exemption, but as discussed above these final rules do not include 
publicly traded companies, and both of the two nonprofit entities that 
challenged the Mandate based on moral objections included fewer than 
five policyholders in their group plans. Therefore, the Departments 
assume that the for-profit entities that may claim this expanded 
exemption will have fewer than 100 employees and an average of 9 
policyholders. For 9 entities, the total number of policyholders would 
be approximately 81. DOL estimates that for each policyholder, there is 
approximately one dependent.\80\ This amounts to approximately 162 
covered persons. Census data indicate that women of childbearing age, 
i.e., women aged 15 to 44, comprise 20.2 percent of the general 
population.\81\ This amounts to approximately 33 women of childbearing 
age for this group of individuals covered by group plans sponsored by 
for-profit moral objectors. Approximately 44.3 percent of women 
currently use contraceptives covered by the Guidelines.\82\ Thus, the 
Departments estimate that approximately 15 women may incur 
contraceptive costs due to for-profit entities using the expanded moral 
exemption provided for in these final rules.\83\ In the companion final

[[Page 57628]]

rules concerning religious beliefs issued contemporaneously with these 
final rules and published elsewhere in today's Federal Register, we 
estimate that the average cost of contraception per year per woman of 
childbearing age that use contraception covered by the Guidelines, in 
health plans that cover contraception, is $584. Consequently, the 
Departments estimate that the anticipated effects attributable to the 
cost of contraception from for-profit entities using the expanded moral 
exemption in these final rules is approximately $8,760.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \79\ ``Health Insurance Coverage Bulletin,'' Dept. of Labor 
(June 28, 2016), Table 4, page 21. Using March 2015 Annual Social 
and Economic Supplement to the Current Population Survey. https://www.dol.gov/sites/default/files/ebsa/researchers/data/health-and-welfare/health-insurance-coverage-bulletin-2015.pdf. Estimates of 
the number of ERISA Plans based on 2015 Medical Expenditure Survey--
Insurance.
    \80\ ``Health Insurance Coverage Bulletin'' Dept. of Labor'' 
(June 28, 2016), Table 4, page 21. Using March 2015 Annual Social 
and Economic Supplement to the Current Population Survey. https://www.dol.gov/sites/default/files/ebsa/researchers/data/health-and-welfare/health-insurance-coverage-bulletin-2015.pdf.
    \81\ U.S. Census Bureau, ``Age and Sex Composition: 2010'' (May 
2011), available at https://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-03.pdf. The Guidelines' requirement of contraceptive 
coverage only applies ``for all women with reproductive capacity.'' 
Women's Preventive Services Guidelines, HRSA (last reviewed Oct. 
2017), https://www.hrsa.gov/womensguidelines/; see also 80 FR 40318. 
In addition, studies commonly consider the 15-44 age range to assess 
contraceptive use by women of childbearing age. See, e.g., 
``Contraceptive Use in the United States,'' The Guttmacher Institute 
(Sept. 2016), https://www.guttmacher.org/fact-sheet/contraceptive-use-united-states.
    \82\ See ``Contraceptive Use in the United States,'' The 
Guttmacher Institute (Sept. 2016), https://www.guttmacher.org/fact-sheet/contraceptive-use-united-states.
    \83\ The Departments note that many non-religious for-profit 
entities which sued the Departments challenging the Mandate, 
including some of the largest employers, only objected to coverage 
of 4 of the 18 types of contraceptives required to be covered by the 
Mandate--namely, those contraceptives which they viewed as 
abortifacients, and akin to abortion --and they were willing to 
provide coverage for other types of contraception. It is reasonable 
to assume that this would also be the case with respect to some for-
profits that object to the Mandate on the basis of sincerely held 
moral convictions. Accordingly, it is possible that even fewer women 
beneficiaries under such plans would bear out-of-pocket expenses in 
order to obtain contraceptives, and that those who might do so would 
bear lower costs due to many contraceptive items being covered.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The Departments estimate that these final rules will not result in 
any additional burden or costs on issuers or third party 
administrators. As discussed above, we assume that no entities with 
non-religious moral convictions will avail themselves of the 
accommodation, although the Departments wish to make it available in 
case an entity voluntarily opts into it in order to allow contraceptive 
coverage to be provided to its plan participants and beneficiaries. 
While these final rules make it legal for issuers to offer insurance 
coverage that omits contraceptives to/for exempt entities and 
individuals, these final rules do not require issuers to do so. 
Finally, because the accommodation process was not previously available 
to entities that possess non-religious moral objections to the Mandate, 
the Departments do not anticipate that these final rules will result in 
any burden from such entities acting to revoke their accommodated 
status.
    The Departments believe the foregoing analysis represents a 
reasonable estimate of the likely impact under the exemptions finalized 
in these final rules. The Departments acknowledge uncertainty in the 
estimate and, therefore, conducted a second analysis using an 
alternative framework, which is set forth in the companion final rules 
concerning religious beliefs issued contemporaneously with these final 
rules and published elsewhere in today's Federal Register, with 
reference to the analysis conducted in the Religious IFC. Under either 
estimate, these final rules are not deemed to be economically 
significant.
    The Departments reiterate the rareness of instances in which we are 
aware that employers assert non-religious objections to contraceptive 
coverage based on sincerely held moral convictions, as discussed above, 
and also that in the few instances where such an objection has been 
raised, employees of such employers also opposed contraception.

B. Special Analyses--Department of the Treasury

    These regulations are not subject to review under section 6(b) of 
Executive Order 12866 pursuant to the Memorandum of Agreement (April 
11, 2018) between the Department of the Treasury and the Office of 
Management and Budget regarding review of tax regulations.

C. Regulatory Flexibility Act

    The Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) imposes 
certain requirements with respect to federal regulations that are 
subject to the notice and comment requirements of section 553(b) of the 
APA (5 U.S.C. 551 et seq.) and that are likely to have a significant 
economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. Under 
section 553(b) of the APA, a general notice of proposed rulemaking is 
not required when an agency, for good cause, finds that notice and 
public comment thereon are impracticable, unnecessary, or contrary to 
the public interest. The Moral IFC was a set of interim final rules 
with comment, and in these final rules, the Departments finalize the 
Moral IFC with certain changes based on public comments. The Moral IFC 
was exempt from the notice and comment requirements of the APA, both 
because the PHS Act, ERISA, and the Code contain specific provisions 
under which the Secretaries may adopt regulations by interim final rule 
and because the Departments have made a good cause finding that a 
general notice of proposed rulemaking is not necessary earlier in this 
preamble. Therefore, the RFA did not apply to the Moral IFC. These 
final rules are, however, issued after a notice and comment period.
    The Departments carefully considered the likely impact of the rules 
on small entities in connection with their assessment under Executive 
Order 12866. The Departments do not expect that these final rules will 
have a significant economic effect on a substantial number of small 
entities, because they will not result in any additional costs to 
affected entities. Instead, by exempting from the Mandate small 
businesses and nonprofit organizations with moral objections to some or 
all contraceptives and/or sterilization--businesses and organizations 
which would otherwise be faced with the dilemma of complying with the 
Mandate (and violating their moral convictions), or of following their 
moral convictions and incurring potentially significant financial 
penalties for noncompliance--the Departments have reduced regulatory 
burden on small entities. Pursuant to section 7805(f) of the Code, the 
notice of proposed rulemaking preceding these regulations was submitted 
to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small Business Administration 
for comment on their impact on small business.

D. Paperwork Reduction Act--Department of Health and Human Services

    Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (the PRA), federal 
agencies are required to publish notice in the Federal Register and 
solicit public comment before a collection of information is submitted 
to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval. 
Interested persons are invited to send comments regarding our burden 
estimates or any other aspect of this collection of information, 
including any of the following subjects: (1) The necessity and utility 
of the proposed information collection for the proper performance of 
the agency's functions; (2) the accuracy of the estimated burden; (3) 
ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to 
be collected; and (4) the use of automated collection techniques or 
other forms of information technology to minimize the information 
collection burden.
    The Departments estimate that these final rules will not result in 
additional burdens not accounted for as set forth in companion final 
rules concerning religious beliefs issued contemporaneously with these 
final rules and published elsewhere in today's Federal Register. As 
discussed there, rules covering the accommodation include provisions 
regarding self-certification or notices to HHS from eligible 
organizations (Sec.  147.131(c)(3)), notice of availability of separate 
payments for contraceptive services (Sec.  147.131(e)), and notice of 
revocation of accommodation (Sec.  147.131(c)(4)). The burden related 
to these information collection requirements (ICRs) received emergency 
review and approval under OMB Control Number 0938-1344. They have been 
resubmitted to OMB in conjunction with this final rule and are pending 
re-approval.

[[Page 57629]]

    As discussed above, however, the Departments assume that no 
entities with non-religious moral objections to the Mandate will use 
the accommodation. The Departments know that no such entities were 
eligible for it until now, so that no entity possesses an accommodated 
status that would need to be revoked. Therefore, the Departments 
believe that the burden for these ICRs is accounted for in the 
collection approved under OMB Control Numbers 0938-1344, as described 
in the final rules concerning religious beliefs issued 
contemporaneously with these final rules.

E. Paperwork Reduction Act--Department of Labor

    Under the Paperwork Reduction Act, an agency may not conduct or 
sponsor, and an individual is not required to respond to, a collection 
of information unless it displays a valid OMB control number. In 
accordance with the requirements of the PRA, the ICR for the EBSA Form 
700 and alternative notice have previously been approved by OMB under 
control numbers 1210-0150 and 1210-0152. In an effort to consolidate 
the number of information collections the Department is combining OMB 
control numbers 1210-0150 and 1210-0152 under OMB control number 1210-
0150 and discontinuing OMB control number 1210-0152.
    A copy of the ICR may be obtained by contacting the PRA addressee 
shown below or at http://www.RegInfo.gov. PRA ADDRESSEE: G. Christopher 
Cosby, Office of Policy and Research, U.S. Department of Labor, 
Employee Benefits Security Administration, 200 Constitution Avenue NW, 
Room N-5718, Washington, DC 20210. Telephone: (202) 693-8410; Fax: 
(202) 219-4745. These are not toll-free numbers.
    Consistent with the analysis in the HHS PRA section above, although 
these final rules make entities with certain moral convictions eligible 
for the accommodation, the Department assumes (1) that no entities will 
use the accommodation rather than the exemption, and (2) entities using 
the moral exemption would not have to revoke an accommodation, because 
they previously were not eligible for it. Therefore, the Department 
believes these final rules do not involve additional burden not 
accounted for under OMB control number 1210-0150, which is published 
elsewhere in today's issue of the Federal Register in connection with 
the companion Religious Exemption and Accommodation Preventive Health 
Service final rule. The Department will publish a notice informing the 
public of OMB's action with respect to the Department's submission of 
the ICRs under OMB control number 1210-0150.

F. Regulatory Reform Executive Orders 13765, 13771 and 13777

    Executive Order 13765 (January 20, 2017) directs that, ``[t]o the 
maximum extent permitted by law, the Secretary of Health and Human 
Services (Secretary) and the heads of all other executive departments 
and agencies (agencies) with authorities and responsibilities under the 
[Affordable Care] Act shall exercise all authority and discretion 
available to them to waive, defer, grant exemptions from, or delay the 
implementation of any provision or requirement of the Act that would 
impose a fiscal burden on any state or a cost, fee, tax, penalty, or 
regulatory burden on individuals, families, healthcare providers, 
health insurers, patients, recipients of healthcare services, 
purchasers of health insurance, or makers of medical devices, products, 
or medications.'' In addition, agencies are directed to ``take all 
actions consistent with law to minimize the unwarranted economic and 
regulatory burdens of the [Affordable Care Act], and prepare to afford 
the States more flexibility and control to create a more free and open 
healthcare market.'' The Moral IFC and these final rules exercise the 
discretion provided to the Departments under the Affordable Care Act 
and other laws to grant exemptions and thereby minimize regulatory 
burdens of the Affordable Care Act on the affected entities and 
recipients of health care services.
    Consistent with Executive Order 13771 (82 FR 9339, February 3, 
2017), the Departments have estimated the costs and cost savings 
attributable to these rules. As discussed in more detail in the 
preceding analysis, these final rules lessen incremental reporting 
costs.\84\ However, in order to avoid double-counting with the Moral 
IFC, which has already been tallied as an E.O. 13771 deregulatory 
action, this finalization of the IFC's policy is not considered a 
deregulatory action under the Executive Order.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \84\ Other noteworthy potential impacts encompass potential 
changes in medical expenditures, including potential decreased 
expenditures on contraceptive devices and drugs and potential 
increased expenditures on pregnancy-related medical services. OMB's 
guidance on E.O. 13771 implementation (https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/04/05/memorandum-implementing-executive-order-13771-titled-reducing-regulation) states that impacts should be 
categorized as consistently as possible within Departments. The Food 
and Drug Administration, within HHS, and the Occupational Safety and 
Health Administration (OSHA) and Mine Safety and Health 
Administration (MSHA), within DOL, regularly estimate medical 
expenditure impacts in the analyses that accompany their 
regulations, with the results being categorized as benefits 
(positive benefits if expenditures are reduced, negative benefits if 
expenditures are raised). Following the FDA, OSHA and MSHA 
accounting convention leads to these final rules' medical 
expenditure impacts being categorized as (positive or negative) 
benefits, rather than as costs, thus placing them outside of 
consideration for E.O. 13771 designation purposes.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

G. Unfunded Mandates Reform Act

    The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (section 202(a) (Pub. L. 
104-4), requires the Departments to prepare a written statement, which 
includes an assessment of anticipated costs and benefits, before 
issuing ``any rule that includes any federal mandate that may result in 
the expenditure by state, local, and tribal governments, in the 
aggregate, or by the private sector, of $100 million or more (adjusted 
annually for inflation) in any 1 year.'' In 2018, that threshold is 
approximately $150 million. For purposes of the Unfunded Mandates 
Reform Act, the Moral IFC and these final rules do not include any 
federal mandate that may result in expenditures by state, local, or 
tribal governments, nor do they include any federal mandates that may 
impose an annual burden of $150 million or more on the private sector.

H. Federalism

    Executive Order 13132 outlines fundamental principles of 
federalism, and requires the adherence to specific criteria by federal 
agencies in the process of their formulation and implementation of 
policies that have ``substantial direct effects'' on states, the 
relationship between the federal government and states, or the 
distribution of power and responsibilities among the various levels of 
government. Federal agencies promulgating regulations that have these 
federalism implications must consult with state and local officials, 
and describe the extent of their consultation and the nature of the 
concerns of state and local officials in the preamble to the 
regulation.
    These rules do not have any Federalism implications, since they 
only provide exemptions from the contraceptive and sterilization 
coverage requirement in HRSA Guidelines supplied under section 2713 of 
the PHS Act.

IV. Statutory Authority

    The Department of the Treasury regulations are adopted pursuant to 
the authority contained in sections 7805 and 9833 of the Code.

[[Page 57630]]

    The Department of Labor regulations are adopted pursuant to the 
authority contained in 29 U.S.C. 1002(16), 1027, 1059, 1135, 1161-1168, 
1169, 1181-1183, 1181 note, 1185, 1185a, 1185b, 1185d, 1191, 1191a, 
1191b, and 1191c; sec. 101(g), Public Law 104-191, 110 Stat. 1936; sec. 
401(b), Public Law 105-200, 112 Stat. 645 (42 U.S.C. 651 note); sec. 
512(d), Public Law 110-343, 122 Stat. 3881; sec. 1001, 1201, and 
1562(e), Public Law 111-148, 124 Stat. 119, as amended by Public Law 
111-152, 124 Stat. 1029; Secretary of Labor's Order 1-2011, 77 FR 1088 
(Jan. 9, 2012).
    The Department of Health and Human Services regulations are adopted 
pursuant to the authority contained in sections 2701 through 2763, 
2791, and 2792 of the PHS Act (42 U.S.C. 300gg through 300gg-63, 300gg-
91, and 300gg-92), as amended; and Title I of the Affordable Care Act, 
sections 1301-1304, 1311-1312, 1321-1322, 1324, 1334, 1342-1343, 1401-
1402, and 1412, Public Law 111-148, 124 Stat. 119 (42 U.S.C. 18021-
18024, 18031-18032, 18041-18042, 18044, 18054, 18061, 18063, 18071, 
18082, 26 U.S.C. 36B, and 31 U.S.C. 9701).

List of Subjects

26 CFR Part 54

    Excise taxes, Health care, Health insurance, Pensions, Reporting 
and recordkeeping requirements.

29 CFR Part 2590

    Continuation coverage, Disclosure, Employee benefit plans, Group 
health plans, Health care, Health insurance, Medical child support, 
Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.

45 CFR Part 147

    Health care, Health insurance, Reporting and recordkeeping 
requirements, State regulation of health insurance.

Kirsten Wielobob,
Deputy Commissioner for Services and Enforcement.
    Approved: October 30, 2018.
David J. Kautter,
Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy.
    Signed this 29th day of October, 2018.
Preston Rutledge,
Assistant Secretary, Employee Benefits Security Administration, 
Department of Labor.
    Dated: October 17, 2018.
Seema Verma,
Administrator, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
    Dated: October 18, 2018.
Alex M. Azar II,
Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services.

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

Internal Revenue Service

    For the reasons set forth in this preamble, 26 CFR part 54 is 
amended as follows:

PART 54--PENSION EXCISE TAXES

0
1. The authority citation for part 54 continues to read, in part, as 
follows:

    Authority: 26 U.S.C. 7805. * * *


Sec.  54.9815-2713   [Amended]

0
2. Section 54.9815-2713, as amended elsewhere in this issue of the 
Federal Register, is further amended in paragraph (a)(1)(iv) by 
removing the reference ``147.131 and 147.132'' and adding in its place 
the reference ``147.131, 147.132, and 147.133''.


Sec.  54.9815-2713A   [Amended]

0
3. Section 54.9815-2713A, as amended elsewhere in this issue of the 
Federal Register, is further amended--
0
a. In paragraph (a)(1) by removing ``or (ii)'' and adding in its place 
``or (ii), or 45 CFR 147.133(a)(1)(i) or (ii)'';
0
b. In paragraph (a)(2) by removing the reference ``147.132(a)'' and 
adding in its place the reference ``147.132(a) or 147.133(a)'';
0
c. In paragraph (b)(1)(ii) introductory text by removing the reference 
``147.132'' and adding in its place the reference ``147.132 or 
147.133'';
0
d. In paragraph (b)(1)(ii)(B) by removing the reference ``147.132'' and 
adding in its place the reference ``147.132 or 147.133'';
0
e. In paragraph (c)(1)(ii) introductory text by removing the reference 
``147.132'' and adding in its place the reference ``147.132 or 
147.133'';
0
f. In paragraph (c)(1)(ii)(B) by removing the reference ``147.132'' and 
adding in its place the reference ``147.132 or 147.133''; and
0
g. In paragraph (c)(2) by removing the reference ``147.132'' and adding 
in its place the reference ``147.132 or 147.133''.

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employee Benefits Security Administration

PART 2590--RULES AND REGULATIONS FOR GROUP HEALTH PLANS

0
For the reasons set forth in the preamble, the Department of Labor 
adopts, as final, the interim final rules amending 29 CFR part 2590, 
published October 13, 2017 (82 FR 47838), without change.

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

0
For the reasons set forth in the preamble, the Department of Health and 
Human Services adopts as final the interim final rules amending 45 CFR 
part 147 published on October 13, 2017 (82 FR 47838) with the following 
changes:

PART 147--HEALTH INSURANCE REFORM REQUIREMENTS FOR THE GROUP AND 
INDIVIDUAL HEALTH INSURANCE MARKETS

0
4. The authority citation for part 147, as revised elsewhere in this 
issue of the Federal Register, continues to read as follows:

    Authority: 42 U.S.C. 300gg through 300gg-63, 300gg-91, and 
300gg-92, as amended.


0
5. Section 147.133 is amended by revising paragraph (a)(1) introductory 
text, (a)(1)(ii), (a)(2), and (b) to read as follow:


Sec.  147.133  Moral exemptions in connection with coverage of certain 
preventive health services.

    (a) * * *
    (1) Guidelines issued under Sec.  147.130(a)(1)(iv) by the Health 
Resources and Services Administration must not provide for or support 
the requirement of coverage or payments for contraceptive services with 
respect to a group health plan established or maintained by an 
objecting organization, or health insurance coverage offered or 
arranged by an objecting organization, to the extent of the objections 
specified below. Thus the Health Resources and Service Administration 
will exempt from any guidelines' requirements that relate to the 
provision of contraceptive services:
* * * * *
    (ii) An institution of higher education as defined in 20 U.S.C. 
1002, which is non-governmental, in its arrangement of student health 
insurance coverage, to the extent that institution objects as specified 
in paragraph (a)(2) of this section. In the case of student health

[[Page 57631]]

insurance coverage, this section is applicable in a manner comparable 
to its applicability to group health insurance coverage provided in 
connection with a group health plan established or maintained by a plan 
sponsor that is an employer, and references to ``plan participants and 
beneficiaries'' will be interpreted as references to student enrollees 
and their covered dependents; and
* * * * *
    (2) The exemption of this paragraph (a) will apply to the extent 
that an entity described in paragraph (a)(1) of this section objects, 
based on its sincerely held moral convictions, to its establishing, 
maintaining, providing, offering, or arranging for (as applicable):
    (i) Coverage or payments for some or all contraceptive services; or
    (ii) A plan, issuer, or third party administrator that provides or 
arranges such coverage or payments.
    (b) Objecting individuals. Guidelines issued under Sec.  
147.130(a)(1)(iv) by the Health Resources and Services Administration 
must not provide for or support the requirement of coverage or payments 
for contraceptive services with respect to individuals who object as 
specified in this paragraph (b), and nothing in Sec.  
147.130(a)(1)(iv), 26 CFR 54.9815-2713(a)(1)(iv), or 29 CFR 2590.715-
2713(a)(1)(iv) may be construed to prevent a willing health insurance 
issuer offering group or individual health insurance coverage, and as 
applicable, a willing plan sponsor of a group health plan, from 
offering a separate policy, certificate or contract of insurance or a 
separate group health plan or benefit package option, to any group 
health plan sponsor (with respect to an individual) or individual, as 
applicable, who objects to coverage or payments for some or all 
contraceptive services based on sincerely held moral convictions. Under 
this exemption, if an individual objects to some but not all 
contraceptive services, but the issuer, and as applicable, plan 
sponsor, are willing to provide the plan sponsor or individual, as 
applicable, with a separate policy, certificate or contract of 
insurance or a separate group health plan or benefit package option 
that omits all contraceptives, and the individual agrees, then the 
exemption applies as if the individual objects to all contraceptive 
services.
* * * * *
[FR Doc. 2018-24514 Filed 11-7-18; 4:15 pm]
 BILLING CODE 4830-01-P; 4510-29-P; 4120-01-P