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U.S. District Judge Laurie Smith Camp ruled in a class action lawsuit that Union Pacific Railroad discriminated against women by not covering contraceptives in its health care plan.

The lawsuit claimed the company discriminated women by providing a range of preventative health benefits, including impotence drugs, but no contraceptive care, and the ruling sided with the plaintiffs. The judge wrote in the ruling that the policy is discriminatory “because it treats medical care women need to prevent pregnancy less favorably than it treats medical care to prevent other medical conditions that are no greater threat to employees’ health than is pregnancy.”

Backed by Planned Parenthood, the lawsuit alleged the railroad’s action violated the federal Civil Rights Act, which prohibits employers with 15 or more workers from making decisions based on gender or pregnancy. According to recent studies, Planned Parenthood said 88 percent of employer health plans provide coverage for all methods of prescription contraception, compared with just 64 percent in 2001.

Union Pacific spokesman Mark Davis said the ruling will be appealed because the decision to exclude contraceptives in the benefits package was negotiated with the company’s unions, among other things. According to Davis, prescription contraception coverage has been available for nonunion employees for “some time.”

The lead plaintiffs in the class action were Brandi Standridge, a 25-year-old trainman and engineer for Union Pacific, and Kenya Phillips, a 32-year-old engineer. Planned Parenthood released a statement saying it was “thrilled with the court ruling and simply want Union Pacific to cover all FDA-approved methods for prescription contraception and reimburse employees who had to pay for their contraception out-of-pocket.”