New York Catholic Groups Win Injunction Against Contraception Mandate
On Monday a federal judge ruled that an assortment of New York Catholic institutions do not have to comply with the birth control benefit in the Affordable Care Act, holding the accommodation for religiously affiliated nonprofit entities was not enough to protect religious liberties.
The decision is the second in the flurry of litigation filed by religious nonprofits challenging the mandate and came in a case filed by Cardinal Spellman High School in the Bronx, Monsignor Farrell High School in Staten Island, Catholic Health Services of Long Island, a group of nonprofits providing health care to the poor and disabled, and a group that oversees six hospitals, three nursing homes, and a hospice. The plaintiffs had filed suit last year once the accommodation for religiously affiliated employers was finalized, arguing that the law’s requirement they fill out a form to self-certify their institution should be exempt from the law’s coverage requirement was itself too much of a burden on their religious beliefs because it forces them to be complicit in a “scheme” to arrange a third party to provide services with which they fundamentally disagree.
According to U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan, the religious nonprofit plaintiffs “demonstrated that the mandate, despite accommodation, compels them to perform acts that are contrary to their religion,” Cogan wrote. “And there can be no doubt that the coercive pressure here is substantial.”
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