Judge Rejects Catholic Church Challenge to Obamacare Birth Control Coverage

[trotsky]

http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2013/12/23/315288.htm

The Catholic Church isn’t harmed by the U.S. Affordable Care Act’s requirement for providing employees with insurance coverage for contraceptives, a judge ruled, throwing out most of a lawsuit challenging the provision.

U.S. District Judge Amy Jackson in Washington last Thursday rejected arguments made by the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Washington, and schools within its jurisdiction, that the requirement that employers provide cost-free coverage for contraceptive services is contrary to their religious beliefs, and violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and their constitutionally protected free-speech rights.

The claims are “practically identical” to those that the archdiocese made in a previous case that Jackson threw out in January, she said in her ruling yesterday. The plaintiffs’ religious beliefs “remain the same, but in the interim, the law has changed,” Jackson wrote.

A victory for women's health and personal freedom over the archaic beliefs of the RCC!

[Warren Stupidity]

1. isn't this connected with the hobby-lobby suit?

I thought both of these complaints were going to the USSC.

[trotsky]

2. I believe this quote from further down in the article covers that...

Lawsuits by nonprofit religious groups challenging the contraceptive-coverage mandate are less advanced in the courts because the Obama administration delayed that requirement for a year as it sought an accommodation with them.