Federal judge sides with anti-abortion group in challenge to birth control requirement

A federal judge has sided with an anti-abortion group that challenged a key birth control provision of the Obama administration's health care overhaul.

March for Life sued the Obama administration last year over a requirement that health insurers cover the cost of contraceptive services.

The organization said the requirement violated its strongly held position against abortion. The group holds an annual march in Washington.

Religious organizations are exempt from the requirement. But in a ruling Monday, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon said groups did not need to voice religious objections to challenge the requirement.

Alliance Defending Freedom, whose lawyers represented March for Life, said Leon's decision was the first to side with an organization that opposed the contraceptive mandate on moral rather than religious grounds.