Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/19pdf/19-431_5i36.pdf
Page Number: 9

Cite as:  591 U. S. ____ (2020) 

5 

Opinion of the Court 

Because of the narrow focus on churches, this first exemp-
tion is known as the church exemption. 

The Guidelines were scheduled to go into effect for plan
years  beginning  on  August  1,  2012.  77  Fed.  Reg.  8725– 
8726.  But in February 2012, before the Guidelines took ef-
fect, the Departments promulgated a final rule that tempo-
rarily prevented the Guidelines from applying to certain re-
ligious  nonprofits.    Specifically,  the  Departments  stated
their  intent  to  promulgate  additional  rules  to  “accommo-
dat[e] non-exempted, non-profit organizations’ religious ob-
jections  to  covering  contraceptive  services.”  Id.,  at  8727. 
Until that rulemaking occurred, the 2012 rule also provided 
a  temporary  safe  harbor  to  protect  such  employers.  Ibid. 
The safe harbor covered nonprofits “whose plans have con-
sistently not covered all or the same subset of contraceptive
services for religious reasons.”3  Thus, the nonprofits who 
availed themselves of this safe harbor were not subject to 
the  contraceptive  mandate  when  it  first  became  effective.
The Departments promulgated another final rule in 2013
that is relevant to these cases in two ways.  First, after re-
iterating  that  §300gg–13(a)(4)  authorizes  HRSA  “to  issue 
guidelines in a manner that exempts group health plans es-
tablished  or  maintained  by  religious  employers,”  the  De-
partments “simplif[ied]” and “clarif[ied]” the definition of a 
religious employer.  78 Fed. Reg. 39873.4  Second, pursuant 

—————— 

3 Dept. of Health and Human Servs., Center for Consumer Information 
and  Insurance  Oversight,  Centers  for  Medicare  &  Medicaid  Services, 
Guidance on the Temporary Enforcement Safe Harbor for Certain Em-
ployers, Group Health Plans and Group Health Insurance Issuers With
Respect  to  the  Requirement  To  Cover  Contraceptive  Services  Without 
Cost Sharing Under Section 2713 of the Public Health Service Act, Sec-
tion 715(a)(1) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, and Sec-
tion 9815(a)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code, p. 2 (2013). 

4 The Departments took this action to prevent an unduly narrow inter-
pretation of the church exemption, in which “an otherwise exempt plan 
[was]  disqualified  because  the  employer’s  purposes  extend[ed]  beyond
the inculcation of religious values or because the employer . . . serve[d]