Monday, December 24, 2012

Pro-Life Catholic Group Wins HHS Mandate Exemption in Court

Priests for Life wins an exemption from ObamaCare:

On Thursday, pro-life attorneys Robert Muise and David Yerushalmi presented oral argument in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn) in support of Priests for Life’s request that the court immediately halt the enforcement of the Obama administration’s mandate. The next day, the federal government entered into a stipulation that it would not enforce the HHS “contraception” mandate against Priests for Life pending a revision in the rules that would protect religious liberty.

The agreement came as a result of the court strongly urging the government to enter into the stipulation. If an agreement was not reached by December 21, the court indicated it would schedule an emergency hearing December 26, and attorneys for the pro-life group said it would have ordered the exemption.

Pursuant to the terms of the binding stipulation, the government agreed that it “will not take any enforcement action against [Priests for Life], its group health plans, or the group health insurance coverage provided in connection with such plans, for not covering in the health plans any contraceptive services required to be covered” by the HHS mandate

It's hard to think that they won because the people involved in that organization don't use contraception (or aren't supposed to).

Imagine a Catholic organization with non-Catholic employees... I suspect this exemption would not be obtained so easily.