Federal Appeals Court Delivers 'Significant Victory' for Catholics Fighting HHS Mandate

(CNSNews.com) - In a 2-1 ruling on Friday, a federal appeals court in Chicago upheld the rights of both individuals and companies to challenge Obamacare's contraception-abortifacient-sterilization mandate.

It is the first decision of its kind in the ongoing litigation against the requirement that all employers -- despite their deeply held religious beliefs -- must arrange and pay for employee health insurance that covers no-cost contraceptives, abortion-inducing drugs, and sterilization, under penalty of fine.

"This is a significant victory for protecting the religious beliefs of individuals and corporations," said Edward White, senior counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice, who represents one of the plaintiffs, an Illinois company.

"It is also important to note that the appeals court determined that the HHS mandate should not move forward against our clients while this issue is being litigated. It has been our position from the beginning that the HHS mandate violates America's longstanding history of protecting conscience rights. The mandate is unlawfully compelling employers such as our clients to do the following: abandon their faith to comply with the law, or follow their faith and pay significant annual penalties to the federal government. The decision by the appeals court is encouraging as this issue heads to the Supreme Court."

Via: CNS News

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California & other states urge Supreme Court to take up ACA contraception mandate Posted by Michael Doyle on October 21, 2013

California and 10 other states are joining forces to urge the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the so-called "contraception mandate" of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Get ready for Obamacare redux!

In the brief filed Monday, California Attorney General Kamala Harris pressed the court to hear the appeal now known as Kathleen Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. The brief contends that the decision by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, permitting for-profit corporations to assert religious exemptions to certain laws, "could interfere with enforcement of other important regulations that protect public safety, civil rights, social welfare, housing, employment and public health."

"The decision’s reasoning could allow corporate owners to improperly disregard the corporate form and assert religious motivations to avoid regulatory obligations, leading to unfair market advantages and threatening the uniform enforcement of essential state regulation," the brief states.

The melodiously named Hobby Lobby case is likely to be one of the hottest of the high court's 2013 term, assuming it is granted. It will be granted, no doubt.

The Hobby Lobby owners contend regulations implementing the 2010 health care law violate their sincerely held religious beliefs. In particular, under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, they are challenging a regulation that requires them, beginning July 1, 2013, to provide certain contraceptive services as a part of their employer-sponsored health care plan.

Via: McClatchy

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Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/10/21/206026/california-10-other-states-urge.html#storylink=cpy

Pelosi Won’t Support First Amendment Rights Of Catholic Hospital In Her District

(CNSNews.com) -- House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who is Catholic, indicated on Friday that she supports forcing St. Mary’s Medical Center, the oldest continuously operating hospital in her San Francisco-based congressional district, to provide health plans to its workers that cover sterilizations, contraceptives and abortion-inducing drugs free of charge even though the Catholic faith says this Catholic hospital may not do so because these things are intrinsically immoral.

"We are committed to furthering the healing ministry of Jesus," says the hospital's mission statement.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius--who, like Pelosi, is Catholic--issued the sterilization-contraception-abortifacient mandate as a regulation under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, AKA Obamacare.

The Catholic bishops of the United States have repeatedly argued, including in numerous lawsuits, that the regulation violates the First-Amendment-guaranteed right to the free exercise of religion by Catholics and Catholic institutions.

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama touted the regulation in many stump speeches during the recent campaign, saying that health plans would now be required to provide women with cost-free contraception.

The Catholic bishops of the United States unanimously endorsed a statement in June declaring the regulation an "unjust and illegal mandate." Many of the bishops had letters read to parishioners at Sunday Masses saying of the regulation: "We cannot--we will not--comply with this unjust law."

Bill Cox, head of the health care alliance that oversees St. Mary's, said the mandate is an "egregious encroachment by the federal government on the constitutionally protected authority of the church."

At the Capitol on Friday, CNSNews.com asked Pelosi: “Should St. Mary’s hospital, which is a Catholic institution in San Francisco, should it be required by the administration to provide its workers with a health plan that covers sterilization and contraception and abortifacients and [other] things that it disagrees with?”

Pelosi said, “I support the action taken by the president--the compromise, I think, is a reasonable one.”

Obama Campaign Greeting Card: ‘Mom…Can I Borrow $18,000 For Birth Control?’

The Obama campaign has launched a series of electronic greeting cards for women to use to promote the campaign’s message, and one has conservatives rolling their eyes because of its absurdity.

“President Obama summed up the Republican Party’s approach to women’s health when he said ‘they want to take us back to the policies more suited to the 1950s than the 21st century,’” the Obama campaign web page claims. “Send an eCard to say you won’t go back.”

One of the greeting cards attacks Romney for wanting to overturn Obamacare, claiming it will force women to find alternative sources of funds to pay for birth control, instead of getting it free from government handouts.

“Dear Mom,” the card reads. “Mitt Romney says he would repeal the Affordable Care Act. So here’s a quick question: Can I borrow $18,000 to help pay for my birth control? Thanks!”

The number, supposedly based on the lifetime costs of the typical woman who uses birth control regularly during her lifetime, is astronomical — especially considering the fact women and purchase a package of birth control pills for as little as $9 at a local drug store.

The other two e-cards in the series are meant to continue stirring up the so-called War on Women.

Meanwhile, it appears the Obama campaign just borrowed from Planned Parenthood’s talking pointsfor the e-card.

Via: Life News

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