The pro-life and religious liberty law center Alliance Defending Freedom has announced they are filing a petition urging the Supreme Court to hear four Oklahoma Christian universities’ case against the Obama Health and Human Services Department’s contraception insurance mandate.
Mid-America Christian University, Oklahoma Baptist University, Oklahoma Wesleyan University, and Southern Nazarene University contend that being forced to help acquire abortifacient drugs is a violation of their religious liberty under the First Amendment to the Constitution.
The 10th Circuit most recently ruled in favor of the mandate on July 14. In response, ADF argues that what HHS calls an “accommodation” relieving religious objections by passing the burden onto third-party administrators “directly involves the Christian universities in providing abortifacients in multiple ways,” including but not limited to “altering their health plans to allow for the provision of such drugs or devices” and “officially authorizing their TPA as a plan and claims administrator solely for the purpose of providing the items.”
“All Americans should oppose unjust laws that force people – under threat of punishment – to give up their fundamental freedoms in order to provide health plans the government prefers,” argues Gregory Baylor, ADF senior counsel. “It’s no different for these Christian colleges, which simply want to abide by the very faith they espouse and teach.”
