Christian College Wins 'Permanent Protection' From the Obamacare Abortion Pill Mandate
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Geneva College, a Christian college in Pennsylvania, has won a battle against the Obamacare abortion pill mandate.
A federal district court handed down an order Thursday that permanently bans the federal government from enforcing the mandate against the college, according to Alliance Defending Freedom, the non-profit religious freedom legal organization representing Geneva.
The court order also states that the mandate goes against the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act, ADF reported in a news release.
The Obamacare abortion pill mandate requires "employers, regardless of their religious or moral convictions, to provide abortion-inducing drugs, sterilization, and contraception through their health plans under threat of heavy penalties," ADF stated.
The Department of Health and Human Services enacted the mandate under the Obama administration. The Trump administration's Department of Justice decided not to defend the measure.
"Religious organizations have the freedom to operate peacefully according to their beliefs without the threat of punishment by the government," ADF Senior Counsel Gregory S. Baylor said in a statement.
"Today's order fully affirms that freedom and provides permanent protection from the mandate," he continued.
"Geneva College no longer has to fear being forced to pay fines for simply abiding by the Christian beliefs it teaches and espouses, and it is no longer required to fill out forms authorizing coverage for abortion-inducing drugs," Baylor said.
"The government has many other ways to ensure access to these drugs without forcing people of faith to violate their deepest convictions," he added.
The case, combined with other similar cases, made it to the US Supreme Court, which in 2016, sent it back to the lower courts to be resolved by the parties involved.
In the case that went before the Supreme Court, CBN News reported that the Obama administration's Health and Human Services Department offered religious organizations an exemption to the contraceptive mandate. However, the plaintiffs objected because they felt it still violated their right to freedom of religion.
The exemption stated that the employer can opt out of the mandate, but that the burden of providing the services then shifts to the employer's insurer.
According to the plaintiffs, which included Geneva College, the cost of providing the contraception would be indirectly passed back to the employer in a complicated shuffling of costs for services.
Furthermore, the opt-out provision could require the employer to provide private information about its employees to the insurer, thus making the employers complicit in what they consider a sinful act.
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