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The Trump administration’s religious and moral carve-outs to an ObamaCare requirement that all employer health plans cover contraception at no cost were blocked on Wednesday by a federal judge. District Judge Wendy Beetlestone in Philadelphia issued a summary judgment that the rules were arbitrary, capricious and an overreach of the authority of the agencies that wrote them in 2017. Under the rules, essentially any for-profit or nonprofit employer or insurer was allowed to exempt themselves from following the birth control mandate on moral and religious grounds. The rules also let publicly traded companies obtain a religious exemption, but not a moral one. (Weixel, 8/14)

Costco Wholesale Corp. has decided not to dispense the abortion pill mifepristone at its more than 500 pharmacy locations, a decision hailed by a group of faith-based activists who urged the retailer to avoid selling the drug. Costco said in a statement that it hasn’t seen consumer demand for the pill, and had no comment on whether the conservative group had any role in its decision. (Green and Nix, 8/14)

Women in remote and rural parts of Hawaiʻi have long struggled to access abortion care. (Valera, 8/13)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Maryland Taps Affordable Care Act Fund To Help Pay For Abortion Care

Maryland is the first state to tap into an old fund connected to the Affordable Care Act to help solve a new problem: helping pay the expenses of patients who travel to Maryland for an abortion. With abortion now restricted or illegal in 22 states, jurisdictions like Maryland have become a destination for patients from as close as neighboring West Virginia to as far as Texas. (Maucione, 8/15)

A drug used in medical abortions could help prevent women at high risk of breast cancer from developing the disease, according to an international group of doctors and scientists. However, “stigma” around mifepristone is stopping pharmaceutical companies from investigating its potential as a new treatment doctors could offer to reduce the risk of breast cancer, they say. Companies appear reluctant to carry out trials despite the fact that three previous studies all found that the drug shows promise as a way of slowing down the growth of cancerous cells. (Campbell, 8/14)