The political lines on abortion blurred (a bit) this week.
Evangelical institutions suing the federal government over the Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate expected that their legal battle would end when President Donald Trump took office.
As of this week, it doesn’t look like that will be the case.
Despite Trump pledging to dismantle Obamacare and to defend religious groups against “bullying” by the federal government, his administration has opted to still stand by the birth control requirement in court.
The Washington Post reported that the Justice Department requested on Monday that a federal appeals court continue to negotiate with Christian schools like East Texas Baptist University, Houston Baptist University, and Westminster Theological Seminary for another two months, rather than dropping their case and allowing the schools to continue to not offer contraception coverage per a lower court decision.
The colleges are among many evangelical and Catholic groups—most notably the Little Sisters of the Poor—who challenged the Obamacare requirement that employers’ heath plans include emergency contraception, intrauterine devices (IUDs), and other birth control. Some believe that certain methods prevent implantation of an embryo, and others object to all artificial birth control. While exemptions for schools and nonprofits allow them to delegate employee coverage to a third party, theses organizations are requesting the full religious exemption that churches qualify for.
Becket, the religious liberty defense firm representing the two Baptist schools, issued a filing last Thursday requesting the Justice Department drop the cases given the new White House administration’s stance.
“This litigation has gone on long enough,” ...
from
http://feeds.christianitytoday.com/~r/christianitytoday/ctmag/~3/2E0_RD4k1eA/trump-contraceptive-mandate-bernie-sanders-prolife-democrat.html
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