Court rules against religious nonprofits in contraception mandate case

[rug]

November 17, 2014
Tim Mullaney, Staff Writer

Religiously affiliated employers have been given an appropriate method to opt out of providing contraception insurance coverage to their workers, a U.S. appeals court ruled Friday. The issue is of concern to certain long-term care providers, and Catholic nursing home organization the Little Sisters of the Poor is challenging the government in a similar case.

In the decision handed down Friday, a three-judge panel in Washington, D.C., ruled against two other Catholic groups, Priests for Life and the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Washington. Like the Little Sisters, the groups claim that in certifying that they will not provide contraception coverage on moral grounds, they in fact would trigger the process by which their employees would gain the coverage through other means. Thus, even if these organizations are not paying for the coverage, they would effectively be authorizing it.

The judges determined that the opt-out process does not place a substantial burden on their religious beliefs, according to Reuters. This is the third time an appeals court has ruled in the government's favor in a case against the Affordable Care Act's so-called contraception mandate. The matter could be taken up by the Supreme Court.

Oral arguments in the Little Sisters case are scheduled for Dec. 8 in the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver.

http://www.mcknights.com/court-rules-against-religious-nonprofits-in-contraception-mandate-case/article/383481/

Case # is 13-5368. The 86 page opinion will be found here:

http://www.cadc.uscourts.gov/internet/opinions.nsf

[cbayer]

1. Excellent. Anything additional from the actual opinion that is worth noting?

[rug]

2. The only other thing I see noteworthy is its thoroughness.

It would be quite difficult to make an argument against it.