Court rejects Texas religious challenge to Obamacare

[TexasTowelie]

Source: Austin American-Statesman

The Affordable Care Act’s rules on contraceptive coverage do not violate the religious freedom of church-based organizations in Texas, a federal appeals court has ruled.

The law, commonly known as Obamacare, requires employers with at least 50 workers to provide health insurance that covers contraceptives unless they sign a form declaring their religious opposition to the coverage.

Signing the form triggers a process that requires insurers to make direct payments to women who use contraceptives — without imposing any costs or obligations on the religious organization.

Two Texas Catholic dioceses and several religious schools and organizations sued, arguing that forcing them to sign the form would provide access to contraceptives through a third party insurer — violating religious prohibitions on birth control or to forms of contraception believed to induce abortion.

Read more: http://www.statesman.com/news/news/court-rejects-texas-religious-challenge-to-obamaca/nmjgr/

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Cross-posted in the Texas Group.

[Tarheel_Dem]

1. K&R

[tosh]

2. K&R!

[davidpdx]

3. Great ruling, but we know that's going to be appealed

They won't stop until they outlaw anything related to a woman's choice and take us back to the stone age.

[Jim Lane]

4. That issue is already on its way to the Supreme Court.

One of Alito's arguments in his opinion for the Court in Hobby Lobby was that accommodating the stated religious objection wouldn't undermine the government's purpose of providing health insurance because employees of Hobby Lobby would still get contraceptive coverage, once Hobby Lobby filled out the form stating that it objected. A week later, the Court granted an emergency injunction saying that Wheaton College didn't have to fill out the form. From the excerpt in the OP (I haven't paid to read the full article), it appears that this case raises the same issue.

The Court's order concerning Wheaton seems to say that, if the employer somehow communicates its alleged religious objection to filling out the form, then that communication is enough for the federal government to go ahead with ensuring that the alternative coverage is provided, just as if the employer had filled out the form. If that's how the dispute is eventually resolved, then everyone will get the coverage they're entitled to.

[davidpdx]

5. Hope you are right

It pisses me off how little bit little reproductive rights have been chipped away at.