Catholic Benefits Association Calls On President To Order Agencies To Stop Opposing Religious Exemption To Contraceptive Mandate

WASHINGTON, Sept. 5, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Three months after President Trump told the Little Sisters of the Poor, in a Rose Garden ceremony, that their "long ordeal" would "soon be over," the Department of Justice is still in court opposing religious employers seeking exemption from Obama's contraceptive mandate. On July 31, in response to a Catholic Benefits Association motion which would have ended the DOJ's ongoing appeal of CBA's injunctive relief from the Obama Mandates, DOJ filed a brief pleading with the Tenth Circuit to keep its appeal alive—even though HHS itself has concluded that the mandate is unnecessary and illegal. 

Frustrated with years of costly delays in court and in the regulatory process, the Catholic Benefits Association ("CBA") today appealed by letter to President Trump for his help in ending this assault on religious employers.

In the six years since the HHS first announced its contraceptive mandate, over 100 similar lawsuits have been filed by other religious employers against the HHS. The mandate uses Obamacare to force CBA members into violating Catholic moral teaching by covering contraceptives, abortifacients, and sterilization procedures in employee health plans, under threat of crushing fines. No government action in American history has ever resulted in more lawsuits by religious organizations.

Religious conservatives voted overwhelmingly for Trump because of his commitment to defending the rights of all Americans to live their lives consistent with their faith and conscience. Before taking office, Trump emphasized that religious groups, "will always have their religious liberty protected on my watch and will not have to face bullying from the government because of their religious beliefs."

On May 4, President Trump renewed these promises in the Rose Garden, in remarks introducing his executive order, "Promoting Free Speech and Religious Liberty."                      

Weeks later, on May 23, HHS submitted an interim final rule to the White House that concludes that applying the mandate to religious employers is illegal because it violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act ("RFRA") and is not necessary to accomplish the government's goals. This rule would exempt CBA members and other objecting religious employers from the contraceptive mandate. More than three months later, the promised fix is still stuck in regulatory limbo while DOJ attorneys refuse any settlement where the government admits the religious employers proved their RFRA defense. The members of CBA are potentially subject to $6 billion in fines until the injunction issued by the federal district court in June 2014 is affirmed. This is why the CBA filed a motion in July, asking the Administration to simply acknowledge that it is no longer seeking to overturn the preliminary injunction the CBA won more than three years ago. But on July 31, the DOJ filed its first legal brief of the Trump era in a contraceptive mandate case, opposing the CBA's motion and asking the court to keep its appeal in place.

The CBA is appealing directly to President Trump by sending a letter that seeks his personal support as well as that of the agencies under his control to protect religious liberty. The CBA's letter to President Trump is signed by CEO Douglas Wilson on behalf of the CBA's board and its 1,000 employer members.   

"President Trump is frustrated that Congress has so far failed in efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare," says Wilson. "But the President's administration can repeal and replace Obamacare's contraception mandate all on its own. They can do it almost immediately."  The goal of the CBA's letter is to support President Trump's position on religious liberty and encourage him to exercise his authority over executive agencies under his control, asking them to stop defending Obamacare's contraception mandate in court, to settle those cases by acknowledging that the plaintiffs successfully established their RFRA defense, and to finalize the promised regulatory fix.

The CBA represents the largest plaintiff group in the battle over the contraceptive mandate, representing more religious employers than all of the other lawsuits combined. However, "a win for the CBA would also be a win for all other religious groups," says Wilson. "Defeating this mandate means that the billions of dollars in potential Obamacare fines could go instead to supporting the works of American ministries and religious organizations here at home and worldwide."

The Catholic Benefits Association is a group of 1,000 employers committed to providing life-affirming health coverage consistent with Catholic teaching.  It includes hospitals, colleges, religious orders, businesses, 60 archdioceses and dioceses, and around 4,000 parishes. For more information, see  www.catholicbenefitsassociation.org.

SOURCE The Catholic Benefits Association

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