World | Wed Mar 23, 2016 1:58am EDT

U.S. high court confronts Obamacare contraceptives challenge

WASHINGTON | BY LAWRENCE HURLEY

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday will consider appeals by Christian groups demanding full exemption on religious grounds from a requirement under President Barack Obama's healthcare law to provide health insurance covering contraceptives.

The court was set to hear a 90-minute oral argument on seven related cases focusing on whether nonprofit entities that oppose the requirement for religious reasons can object under a 1993 U.S. law called the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act to a compromise measure offered by the Obama administration.

The 2010 Affordable Care Act, dubbed Obamacare, was passed by Congress over unified Republican opposition. It is considered Obama's signature legislative achievement. Conservatives have mounted numerous legal challenges to the law, with the Supreme Court in 2012 and 2015 issuing high-profile rulings leaving it intact.

Among the groups challenging the requirement is a Colorado-based order of Roman Catholic nuns called the Little Sisters of the Poor that runs care homes for the elderly.

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