Religious Organizations Hopeful Court Will Grant Exemption from Contraception Mandate

Veronica Neffinger | iBelieve Contributor | Updated: Apr 21, 2016

Religious Organizations Hopeful Court Will Grant Exemption from Contraception Mandate

The U.S. government has admitted that there may be a path to consensus on the issue of religion objection to contraceptives.

Many religious organizations, including the Little Sisters of the Poor, Thomas Aquinas College, and The Catholic University of America are involved in a court battle to gain the religious freedom not to be involved in the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive mandate.

Christian Today reports that the case Zubik v. Burwell was heard by the Supreme Court recently. The Plaintiffs in the case assured the Court that there were other options for providing contraception without their involvement.

One of the options suggested was that the government provide the contraceptive coverage free of charge so that this type of coverage wouldn’t need to be part of the health insurance plans of the religious organizations.

Mark Rienzi of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, summed up the good news for religious organizations: “The government has now admitted 'yes, we can get people contraceptives without involving nuns.' That's a pretty logical point. It shouldn't have taken five years of litigation to admit that, but it's good that they have admitted it. And now it's a pretty easy path to consensus for the Court."

Rienzi also stressed that the religious organizations have no problem with the government providing the contraceptive coverage, they just do not want to be involved in providing it themselves.

"If it's really truly separate from us, that's fine," he said. "We've actually always been saying yes to things that are truly separate. And from our point of view, the government just really needs to take yes for an answer here."

The Supreme Court is expected to issue a decision in this case in June.

Publication date: April 21, 2016



Religious Organizations Hopeful Court Will Grant Exemption from Contraception Mandate