HHS birth control mandate goes into effect on August 1 for businesses [except ...]
by Ben Johnson
www.lifesitenews.com/news/the-hhs-mandate-goes-into-effect-next-on-august-1-for-businesses
WASHINGTON, D.C., July 27, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) – Starting next week, American business owners “will be the casualties of an unprecedented war on religious freedom,” according to Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council.
That is when the HHS mandate – which requires private businesses to include contraception, sterilization, and abortifacient medications in their employees’ health care coverage, even if doing so would violate their religious beliefs – goes into effect.
Private businesses must begin observing the health care law’s most controversial provision on August 1. Entrepreneurs who refuse to comply will face fines of up to $100 per day per employee.
Referring to one family business that has challenged the mandate in court, Alliance Defending Freedom Legal Counsel Matt Bowman said, “The cost of freedom for this family could be millions of dollars per year in fines that will cripple their business if the Obama administration ultimately has its way.”
On Friday, a federal judge issued an injunction against the HHS mandate to Bowman’s clients, the Newlands, a Catholic family that owns Hercules Industries in Denver.
“While this is only the first round of litigation, this is a significant win as it reaffirms that millions of Americans cannot be coerced by the federal government into violating their religious faith,” said FRC religious liberty director Ken Klukowski.
Other pro-life Catholics, and their lawyers, hope to duplicate the ADF’s success.
Legatus, the largest association of Catholic businesses in the country, has sought an exemption from the law, as well. The Thomas More Law Center, based in Ann Arbor, has asked a federal judge in Michigan for a Temporary Restraining Order against the mandate on behalf of Legatus. “Without the Court’s intervention, the HHS mandate effectively penalizes their free exercise of religion,” said lead counsel Erin Mersino.
Richard Thompson, president and chief counsel of the Thomas More Law Center, went further. “The Obama administration deliberately declared war on the Catholic Church by promulgating the HHS Mandate,” he said.
The mandate requires businesses to furnish their employees with “all Food and Drug Administration approved contraceptive methods, sterilization procedures, and patient education and counseling for all women with reproductive capacity.” By law, this includes every female from first menstruation until menopause – a category that includes girls as young as 12 years old.
Thousands of business owners of various religious backgrounds could face prohibitively high penalties if they fail to comply, in effect forcing them to choose between operating their firms or exercising their faith.
“Unfortunately, the Obama administration is so hostile to Christians and beholden to the abortion movement that it fails to see the profoundly human element of this mandate and how it impacts everyday life for millions of Americans,” said Family Research Council President Tony Perkins in a statement e-mailed to LifeSiteNews.com.
The Department of Health and Human Services has given religious employers an additional year to comply with the mandate, regardless of their doctrinal views. “In effect, the president is saying we have a year to figure out how to violate our consciences,” said Cardinal Timothy Dolan upon learning of the extension.
[Except ...]
Catholic family business wins injunction against HHS birth control mandate
by Ben Johnson
www.lifesitenews.com/news/catholic-family-wins-injunction-against-hhs-mandate
DENVER, July 27, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) – A federal judge has given a Catholic family business a temporary injunction against the HHS mandate, exempting that family from providing no-cost contraception, sterilization, or abortifacient medicines in its employees’ health care plans.
The Newlands, a Catholic family, argued that the controversial provision of the Affordable Care Act violated their First Amendment rights by forcing them to purchase something that violates their consciences.
Attorneys for the Obama administration justified the mandate as part of the fight for sexual equality, arguing it was a necessary part of “improving the health of women and children…so that women who choose to do so can be part of the workforce on an equal playing field with men.”
But Senior Judge John L. Kane of the U.S. District of Colorado ruled on Friday that the government’s interests, which he called into question, “are countered, and indeed outweighed, by the public interest in the free exercise of religion.”
Judge Kane ruled that the plaintiffs could prevail on the grounds of the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act alone. That law states the government may not “substantially burden a person’s exercise of religion” unless it is to further “a compelling governmental interest” and it uses “the least restrictive means” possible to implement the law.
Judge Kane, who was appointed to the federal bench by President Jimmy Carter in 1977, instructed the Obama administration it must “demonstrate that there are no feasible less-restrictive alternatives.”
“The government need not tilt at windmills; it need only refute alternatives proposed by Plaintiffs,” he wrote in his decision.
He declined to comment on the ADF’s constitutional arguments altogether.
The Newlands own Hercules Industries, a heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) manufacturer founded in 1962. The Denver-based HVAC company now employs 265 people, and their business practices reflect their Catholic beliefs.
“The cost of freedom for this family could be millions of dollars per year in fines that will cripple their business if the Obama administration ultimately has its way,” said Alliance Defending Freedom (formerly “Alliance Defense Fund”) Legal Counsel Matt Bowman, who represented the family in Newland v. Sebelius.
It is significant that Hercules Industries is a private employer. This winter the Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate narrowly voted down the Blunt Amendment, which would have respected the religious liberties of private business owners.
“Religious liberty goes far beyond merely the ‘freedom of worship’ – an alarmingly narrow term the Obama administration has adopted – to include peacefully living out your faith in every area of life,” said Ken Klukowski, director of the Family Research Council’s Center for Religious Liberty, in a statement e-mailed to LifeSiteNews.com. “For private business owners, that includes their right to showcase their faith through their business policies.”
Pro-family leaders are happy at the temporary victory but hope the infringement on religious freedom will be rolled back, by the court or by law after the November election.
“For now, the family will not be forced to violate their religious beliefs as demanded by President Obama’s abortion drug and contraceptive mandate,” said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council. “While this ruling is a victory, it is limited to the Newland family, which underscores why Congress must act soon to protect all families.”