NEW YORK – GLAAD, the world’s largest LGBTQ media organization, released the following statement after the Trump Administration rolled back a mandate in President Obama’s Affordable Care Act (ACA) which required employers and insurers under the ACA to provide health insurance that allowed affordable opportunities to acquire birth control and contraception access. Instead, employers can now claim so-called “religious exemptions” as an excuse to deny health care to approximately 55 million women and an untold number of transgender and nonconforming people who rely on no-copay contraception benefit provided by the ACA.

“It is a dangerous overreach for President Trump to try and dictate how women and LGBTQ Americans access their health care and contraception,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, President and CEO of GLAAD. “The Trump Administration is actively cloaking controversial policies under so-called ‘religious exemptions’ when the policies, in fact, directly attack marginalized communities who often experience discrimination on a daily basis. President Trump must be called out for hiding behind so-called ‘religious exemptions’ and held accountable for his clear anti-LGBTQ and anti-woman agenda.”

All LGBTQ people who can become pregnant require access to reproductive care and often face additional discrimination and barriers to inclusive healthcare. This includes the bi+ women, who face the highest rates of sexual assault and transgender men who need safe and inclusive access to contraception and reproductive care.