Article by: Becket Fund for Religious Liberty
Colorado Christian University (CCU) today became the first
interdenominational Christian college to challenge in federal court a new
"Affordable Care Act" (aka "Obamacare") mandate for abortifacients (drugs which
induce abortions). Colorado Christian joins the monks at
Belmont
Abbey College pushing back against government intrusion into personal
religious convictions that is unprecedented in the health care realm. The
Becket
Fund for Religious Liberty represents both colleges in their separate
lawsuits.
"If the Administration thought that conscience objections
to this HHS mandate would be muted or isolated, Colorado Christian's lawsuit
proves otherwise. Evangelical Christians have now joined Catholics to defend
their religious rights," said Hannah Smith, Senior Legal Counsel at the Becket
Fund for Religious Liberty.
"Abortion is a highly controversial
issue in American life," explains CCU President Bill Armstrong. "Some of our
fellow citizens believe abortion is a fundamental right while others are
equally sincere in the conviction that abortion is morally wrong in all, or
almost all circumstances. But that is not the issue raised by the HHS
regulations. The question is -- may a government agency compel support of
abortions by those whose religious convictions forbid them from doing so. The
law does not permit such compulsion, in our opinion, nor will the conscience
of our fellow citizens, whether abortion proponents or opponents."
The Health and Human Services regulation mandates that all group health
insurance plans must provide FDA-approved contraceptives at no charge to
consumers, including the abortifacients Plan B (morning-after pill) and ella
(week-after pill), and sterilization services. Many Evangelical Christians do
not share Catholics' objection to contraception and sterilization, but most
-- including Colorado Christian -- strongly oppose abortion, including
abortifacient drugs.
"This mandate forbids us from practicing what
we preach," said Armstrong. "How can we train our college students to
advocate for limited government and personal freedom -- especially religious
freedom -- if we don't fight this unparalleled attack on those very
principles?"
CCU is a non-denominational Evangelical University
whose main campus is located in Lakewood, Colorado. Nearly 100 years old, CCU
now serves approximately 4200 students. The University is a member of the
Council of Christian Colleges and Universities.
CCU's lawsuit was
filed today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado. Belmont
Abbey's lawsuit was filed on November 10th in the U.S. District Court for the
District of Columbia. The two lawsuits challenge the HHS regulations as
violations of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the Religious
Freedom Restoration Act, and the Administrative Procedures Act.
The
Becket Fund for Religious Liberty is a non-profit, public-interest law firm
dedicated to protecting the free expression of all religious traditions. The
Becket Fund has a 17-year history of defending religious liberty for people of
all faiths.
For more information, or to arrange an interview with
one of the attorneys, please contact Emily Hardman, Communications Director,
at ehardman@becketfund.org or call 202.349.7224. To stay updated on this
case,
please visit our case page.