A federal court decided today that a handful of Christian colleges do not have to obey the HHS mandate that forces companies, colleges, and religious groups to pay for birth control and drugs that may cause abortions under their employee health plans.
Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Gregory S. Baylor said he was pleased by a federal court’s decision Monday in Southern Nazarene University v. Sebelius to suspend the enforcement of the Obama administration’s abortion pill mandate against four Christian universities in Oklahoma.
He told LifeNews: “All Americans should oppose unjust laws that force people–under threat of punishment–to give up their fundamental freedoms and act contrary to their beliefs. That’s no different for these Christian colleges, which simply want to abide by the very faith they espouse and teach. The court has rightfully suspended the Obamacare abortion pill mandate against these schools while their case moves forward. The government should not punish people of faith for making decisions consistent with that faith.”
The decision is good news in the battle against the mandate after, in another case, Priests for Life had its lawsuit tossed.
Father Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, tells LifeNews he is very concerned after learning that Priests for Life’s lawsuit against the HHS contraception mandate was dismissed by a judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
“The judge’s decision today is a complete contradiction to Judge Cogan’s decision of just a few days ago in New York for organizations situated similarly to us and using exactly the same arguments.
“The New York decision recognized that the religious nonprofits were being forced to cooperate with evil.Our judge, instead, claims that we are not being forced to cooperate with evil. Our judge’s decision is wrong, and we are confident of victory in our appeal.
“Meanwhile, injunction or not, we will absolutely not obey, cooperate with, or tolerate in any way this unjust mandate. As Scripture says, we will obey God rather than men.”
The Supreme Court recently agreed to take a case from Christian-run business Hobby Lobby, which is suing the Obama administration over its mandate that it pay for birth control and abortion-causing drugs for its employees. But where do Americans stand on the issue of whether employers should be forced to comply with the mandate?
A new Rasmussen Reports poll shows they apparently agree.
“Half of voters now oppose a government requirement that employers provide health insurance with free contraceptives for their female employees,” Rasmussen reports.
The poll found: “The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 38% of Likely U.S. Voters still believe businesses should be required by law to provide health insurance that covers all government-approved contraceptives for women without co-payments or other charges to the patient.
CLICK LIKE IF YOU’RE PRO-LIFE!
Fifty-one percent (51%) disagree and say employers should not be required to provide health insurance with this type of coverage. Eleven percent (11%) are not sure.”
Another recent poll found 59 percent of Americans disagree with the mandate.
