President Donald Trump is allowing more employers to opt out of providing no-cost birth control to women by claiming religious or moral objections, issuing new rules Friday that take another step in rolling back the Obama healthcare law.

Employers with religious or moral qualms will also be able to cover some birth control methods, and not others. Experts said that could interfere with efforts to promote modern long-acting implantable contraceptives, such as IUDs, which are more expensive.

The new policy was a long-anticipated revision to Affordable Care Act requirements that most companies cover birth control as preventive care for women, at no additional cost. That Obama-era requirement applies to all FDA-approved methods, including the morning-after pill, which some religious conservatives call an abortion drug, though scientists say it has no effect on women who are already pregnant.

As a result of the ACA, most women no longer pay for contraceptives. Several advocacy groups immediately announced plans to try to block the Trump administration rule.

Catholic bishops called the administration's move a "return to common sense."

Trump's religious and moral exemption is expected to galvanize both his opponents and religious conservatives who back him, but it seems unlikely to have a major impact on America's largely secular workplaces.

Tens of thousands of women could be affected by Trump's policy, but the vast majority of companies have no qualms about offering birth control benefits through their health plans. Human resource managers recognise that employers get an economic benefit from helping women plan their pregnancies, since female workers are central to most enterprises.

The administration estimated that some 200 employers who have already voiced objections to the Obama-era policy would qualify for the expanded opt-out, and that 120-thousand women would be affected.

However, it's unclear how major religion-affiliated employers such as Catholic hospitals and universities will respond.

Many Catholic hospitals now rely on an Obama-era workaround under which the government pays for the cost of birth control coverage. That workaround can continue under the new rules.

Since contraception became a covered preventive benefit, the share of women employees paying with their own money for birth control pills has plunged to 3 per cent, from 21 per cent, according to the latest Kaiser Family Foundation figures.

Doctors' groups that were instrumental in derailing Republican plans to repeal the health law expressed their dismay.

The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists said the new policy could reverse progress in lowering the nation's rate of unintended pregnancies.

The new rules take immediate effect.

Cambridge, Massachusetts – 6 October 2017

1. Close view of a mother walking with her young child and dog

2. SOUNDBITE (English): Marisa Curran, Massachusetts resident

"Contraception isn't just for people who are having mistakes. You know, it's for rape victims, it's for people who, you know, can't afford to have babies, it's important and people who are having health risks because they can't have a baby because they might die."

3. Wide view of woman pushing a child in a stroller waiting to cross the road

4. SOUNDBITE (English): Nancy Hughes, Massachusetts resident

"This administration that claims to make America great again has done the opposite in terms of human rights, definitely women's rights, people of colour and, I think, lacking in compassion and a real understanding of what American women – and women throughout the world – need, to be safe and to be able to make decisions about their bodies."

5. Couple walking with a child

San Francisco, California – 6 October 2017

6. Medium view of NARAL official Amy Everitt in office

7. Medium view of computer screen

8. Close view of computer screen

9. SOUNDBITE (English): Amy Everitt, State Director, NARAL Pro-Choice California

"In the last couple of years under Obamacare that we have had the lowest abortion rate in American since Roe v. Wade?' That is because women are able to access all different forms of contraception that works for them, that they can now afford. Now we have Trump and Mike Pence and Paul Ryan and their comrades rolling that back."

St. Anthony, Minnesota - 6 October 2017

10. Medium view of Stephani Liesmaki of the Minnesota Family Council

11. Close view of hands on computer

12. SOUNDBITE (English): Stephani Liesmaki, Communications Director, Minnesota Family Council

"Government is supposed to be the protector of America's freedoms, not it's greatest threat. And so by advancing this religious freedom protection we're simply, President Trump is simply securing a place for individuals who object to these kinds of drugs from being forced to violate their conscience."

13. Medium view of Liesmaki in office

President Donald Trump is allowing more employers to opt out of providing no-cost birth control to women by claiming religious or moral objections, issuing new rules Friday that take another step in rolling back the Obama healthcare law.

Employers with religious or moral qualms will also be able to cover some birth control methods, and not others. Experts said that could interfere with efforts to promote modern long-acting implantable contraceptives, such as IUDs, which are more expensive.

The new policy was a long-anticipated revision to Affordable Care Act requirements that most companies cover birth control as preventive care for women, at no additional cost. That Obama-era requirement applies to all FDA-approved methods, including the morning-after pill, which some religious conservatives call an abortion drug, though scientists say it has no effect on women who are already pregnant.

As a result of the ACA, most women no longer pay for contraceptives. Several advocacy groups immediately announced plans to try to block the Trump administration rule.

Catholic bishops called the administration's move a "return to common sense."

Trump's religious and moral exemption is expected to galvanize both his opponents and religious conservatives who back him, but it seems unlikely to have a major impact on America's largely secular workplaces.

Tens of thousands of women could be affected by Trump's policy, but the vast majority of companies have no qualms about offering birth control benefits through their health plans. Human resource managers recognise that employers get an economic benefit from helping women plan their pregnancies, since female workers are central to most enterprises.

The administration estimated that some 200 employers who have already voiced objections to the Obama-era policy would qualify for the expanded opt-out, and that 120-thousand women would be affected.

However, it's unclear how major religion-affiliated employers such as Catholic hospitals and universities will respond.

Many Catholic hospitals now rely on an Obama-era workaround under which the government pays for the cost of birth control coverage. That workaround can continue under the new rules.

Since contraception became a covered preventive benefit, the share of women employees paying with their own money for birth control pills has plunged to 3 per cent, from 21 per cent, according to the latest Kaiser Family Foundation figures.

Doctors' groups that were instrumental in derailing Republican plans to repeal the health law expressed their dismay.

The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists said the new policy could reverse progress in lowering the nation's rate of unintended pregnancies.

The new rules take immediate effect.

Cambridge, Massachusetts – 6 October 2017

1. Close view of a mother walking with her young child and dog

2. SOUNDBITE (English): Marisa Curran, Massachusetts resident

"Contraception isn't just for people who are having mistakes. You know, it's for rape victims, it's for people who, you know, can't afford to have babies, it's important and people who are having health risks because they can't have a baby because they might die."

3. Wide view of woman pushing a child in a stroller waiting to cross the road

4. SOUNDBITE (English): Nancy Hughes, Massachusetts resident

"This administration that claims to make America great again has done the opposite in terms of human rights, definitely women's rights, people of colour and, I think, lacking in compassion and a real understanding of what American women – and women throughout the world – need, to be safe and to be able to make decisions about their bodies."

5. Couple walking with a child

San Francisco, California – 6 October 2017

6. Medium view of NARAL official Amy Everitt in office

7. Medium view of computer screen

8. Close view of computer screen

9. SOUNDBITE (English): Amy Everitt, State Director, NARAL Pro-Choice California

"In the last couple of years under Obamacare that we have had the lowest abortion rate in American since Roe v. Wade?' That is because women are able to access all different forms of contraception that works for them, that they can now afford. Now we have Trump and Mike Pence and Paul Ryan and their comrades rolling that back."

St. Anthony, Minnesota - 6 October 2017

10. Medium view of Stephani Liesmaki of the Minnesota Family Council

11. Close view of hands on computer

12. SOUNDBITE (English): Stephani Liesmaki, Communications Director, Minnesota Family Council

"Government is supposed to be the protector of America's freedoms, not it's greatest threat. And so by advancing this religious freedom protection we're simply, President Trump is simply securing a place for individuals who object to these kinds of drugs from being forced to violate their conscience."

13. Medium view of Liesmaki in office