Missouri lawmakers have voted to override Gov. Jay Nixon’s veto of a bill expanding religious exceptions for insurance coverage of birth control.

The legislation lets individuals, employers, and notably, insurance carriers, cite religious or moral exemptions from mandatory insurance coverage for abortion, contraception and sterilization.

It was intended as a rebuff of an Obama administration policy that requires insurers to cover birth control at no additional cost to women, including those employed by religious nonprofits such as hospitals, colleges or charities.

Nixon, a Democrat, said in his veto message that because the bill could have also allowed insurers to deny contraception, it was “a step backward for Missouri,: and said it would set a dangerous precedent for the future and other types of health care services.

Nixon said he prefered letting families make those decisions, and said insurance companies should not have the power to overrule that right.

A 2001 Missouri law already requires birth control prescriptions to be covered under policies that include pharmaceutical benefits. That law also allows insurers to offer policies without contraception coverage to those who say it violates their beliefs.