Court favours Christian universities in contraception row

Christian Today 01 June 2018

A United States federal court has ruled in favour of four Christian universities that filed a lawsuit against the Department of Health and Human Services five years ago to challenge a mandate requiring them to provide contraceptive coverage in the health plans of employees, writes Jardine Malado for Christian Today.

Four private colleges – Southern Nazarene University, Oklahoma Wesleyan University, Oklahoma Baptist University, and Mid-America Christian University – filed the suit in 2013, with the help of the Alliance Defending Freedom, seeking relief from the mandate. The mandate, which was introduced as part of the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare, requires employers to provide abortifacients and contraceptives regardless of their religious or moral convictions.

According to Life News, the Department of Justice has ceased from defending the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) mandate in court under the Trump administration. President Donald Trump rescinded the HHS mandate and expanded the religious exemptions for non-profits and businesses in October 2017. Last week the US District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma issued an order that prevented the federal government from enforcing the mandate against the four universities, due in part to the Department of Justice’s decision to stop defending regulation.
Full report on the Christian Today site

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