In the
broadest ruling so far by a federal appeals court barring enforcement of
the so-called contraceptive mandate in the new federal health care law, a
divided Seventh Circuit Court panel decided on November 8, 2013 to block
the mandate that requires companies to provide contraceptive coverage in group
health-care plans for employees. The mandate applies to companies that provide
their employees with health insurance under group plans. While the law
and government regulations provide some exemptions from the mandate for
churches and other strictly religious entities, there are no exemptions for
profit-making businesses. The plaintiffs sued the
federal government in 2012, arguing that it placed a burden on their practice
of religion in violation of the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act and
the free-exercise and free-speech clauses of the First Amendment. The Justice
Department, which is charged with defending the mandate in court, has argued
that for-profit companies have no religious rights.
The 2-1
decision ruled on behalf of two closely held profit-making companies and their
Roman Catholic owners, who claimed the mandate violated their rights under the
Religious Freedom Restoration Act. This decision is the first to issue a
preliminary injunction barring enforcement of the measure. The Seventh Circuit's ruling contrasts with the decision earlier
this month by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, which held there
was "no basis for concluding a secular organization can exercise
religion." Still, the D.C. court said the owners of produce-distribution
companies in Ohio could challenge the mandate as a burden on their own beliefs.
The full
decision, 64 pages in the majority ruling, 90 pages in the dissent, can be
found here.
