A Texas judge on Wednesday ruled that employers don't need to provide coverage for HIV drugs in their health plans, saying a provision in the Affordable Care Act that mandates businesses to do so violates the religious beliefs of a Christian-owned company, reports The Texas Tribune.

U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor's ruling in Kelley v. Becerra could put other preventive services in jeopardy, including access to free birth control, cancer screenings, vaccines, counseling for alcohol misuse, diet counseling, and others, according to the nation's leading doctors' groups.

"The lawsuit could cause millions of Americans, probably more than 150 million, to lose guaranteed access to preventive services," Dr. Jack Resneck, president of the American Medical Association, told NPR in early August. "There's really a great deal at stake," he said.

The plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit, a group of self-described Christian business owners and employees in Texas, are represented by attorney Jonathan Mitchell, a key strategist behind the Texas abortion law passed in 2021 that bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.

The group sued in 2020, arguing that the ACA's preventive care mandates violate their constitutional right to religious freedom by requiring companies and policyholders to pay for coverage not in line with their faith and personal values.

Dr. Steven Hotze, one of the plaintiffs, in the complaint said he was unwilling to pay for a health insurance plan that covers HIV prevention drugs "because these drugs facilitate or encourage homosexual behavior, which is contrary to" my religious beliefs.

John Carlo, CEO of Prism Health North Texas and former public health director of Dallas County, told the Tribune that PrEP, an HIV prevention drug, "does not facilitate or encourage homosexual behavior."

"PrEP prevention research shows that its use does not increase risky behaviors or cause people to have more sex or use more intravenous drugs when using it," Carlo said. "This is well studied."

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