![second federal judge halts Trump's birth control rule](https://static.politico.com/dims4/default/f4bc911/2147483647/resize/1160x/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic.politico.com%2F4e%2Ff3%2Fa54025124d3c9d62ff8bd9b30c5d%2F171221-birth-control.jpg)
A federal judge in California has temporarily blocked the Trump administration's rule that makes it easier for employers to deny contraceptive coverage on moral or religious grounds — a requirement under Obamacare.
Judge Haywood Gilliam, Jr., of the the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, issued the ruling today. It's the second time in a week that a federal judge has blocked the Trump rule. A federal court judge in Pennsylvania granted a preliminary injunction on the same issue last Friday, determining the directive would cause "serious and irreparable harm."
Gilliam's 29-page ruling centered on the Trump administration's failure to pursue a notice and comment process before implementing the policy, which vastly broadened the religious exemptions to the health law policy.