Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange and Alabama-based Eternal World Television Network filed suit on Monday to challenge the ObamaCare mandate that forces non-profit religious organizations to include contraception and abortion-inducing drugs in their employees’ health insurance plans.
Under ObamaCare, employers are mandated to provide health insurance that covers contraception and sterilization services and related counseling and education.
In the lawsuit, EWTN declared that contraception, sterilization, and abortion are “gravely immoral practices” because of the “destruction of human life.”
However, they have until July 1, 2014 to comply with the sanction. If they don’t, the network will face penalties that could amount to more than $12 million per year.
EWTN is the world’s largest Catholic media network, located in Irondale, northeast of Birmingham. Attorney General Strange said that he’s proud to stand with EWTN to oppose what he called an “unconscionable mandate.”
“Whatever we personally may think about contraception and abortion-inducing drugs, the government should be in the business of forcing people to violate their religious convictions,” Strange said.
ObamaCare stipulates that religious groups may get a third party to provide the services in question for free, instead of offering the services themselves. But Strange and EWTN said they believe that provision is nothing more than a “fig leaf” covering the underlying issue that faith-based organization are being forced by law to go against their religious beliefs.
“We all know that insurance companies do not provide anything for free; the employers are still going to be paying for these services through increased premiums or otherwise even if the insurance company technically covers those products through a separate ‘free’ policy,” said Strange. “This isn’t just about who ultimately has to pay. It is about the government forcing EWTN to participate in a scheme that violates its religious beliefs.”
Strange also said ObamaCare violates Alabama Law. In November 2012, an amendment was added to the Alabama Constitution to protect any state resident or employer from being compelled to participate in a health care system.
“The freedom of religion, and to believe as conscience requires, is our ‘first freedom’ under the United States Constitution,” Strange said. “The people of Alabama have recognized the importance of this freedom and have enshrined it in their Constitution as well. Alabama law does not allow anyone to be forced to offer a product that is against his or her religious beliefs or conscience.”
Attorney General Strange is asking the Court to find that the mandate is in violation of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the First and Fifth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution, and the Administrative Procedure Act, to declare that the mandate does not preempt or displace Alabama’s own laws, and to issue a permanent injunction to stop enforcement of the mandate against EWTN and other religious organizations that object to providing insurance coverage for contraceptives, abortifacients and sterilization.
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