Americans United on May 29 urged a federal appeals court to affirm a preliminary injunction that blocks the Trump administration’s rules that would allow employers and universities to cite religious or moral objections as justification to deny employees and students insurance coverage for contraceptives.

“The Trump administration’s new rules have two major problems: They hurt women and they misuse religious freedom in the process,” said Rachel Laser, president and CEO of AU. “Religious freedom laws should protect people, not harm them. These rules cannot be squared with the Constitution or our core values.”

Americans United filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in California v. Azar – a challenge to the Trump-Pence administration’s new rules that would allow employers and universities to use religion to deny their employees and students health-insurance coverage for birth control.