Today the University of Notre Dame filed a legal challenge against an Obamacare regulation that requires health care plans to include abortion-inducing drugs, contraceptives, and sterilization procedures. Many religious institutions, including Notre Dame, object on religious or moral grounds to providing, paying for, and/or facilitating insurance coverage that includes abortion-inducing drugs, contraceptives, and/or sterilization procedures. If the federal government is permitted to “override our religious purpose” and “use religious organizations to advance policies that undercut [their] values,” said Notre Dame President Father John Jenkins, then religious organizations will become “mere …
Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio, recently announced that it would no longer offer a student health insurance plan because it cannot do so under Obamacare without violating its religious beliefs. At issue is the Obamacare “preventive services” mandate promulgated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The mandate requires almost all health care plans to include abortion-inducing drugs, sterilization services, and contraception. Many individuals and institutions object on religious or moral grounds to participating in health care plans that include these products and services. Franciscan University, for example, …
Yesterday, President Obama announced that he supports same-sex marriage. This was not exactly a surprise. Sure, when running for Senate in 2004, Obama said that “marriage is between a man and a woman.” And when campaigning for the presidency in 2008, he restated that view and also claimed he did “not support gay marriage.” The truth, however, is that President Obama has repeatedly done and said things that directly undermine marriage as one man and one woman. President Obama has openly opposed state marriage amendments, such as Proposition 8 in …
Yesterday, North Carolina voters approved an amendment to the state constitution that protects marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Unofficial results show more than 60 percent support for the amendment, a result described by the National Organization for Marriage as “an overwhelming endorsement” of the traditional understanding of marriage. North Carolina is the 31st state to adopt a marriage amendment. State constitutional amendments play an important part in helping to strengthen marriage by protecting marriage from judicial activism in state courts. Marriage amendments also settle the …
According to the Alliance Defense Fund, “Sixty-three million Americans have voted on marriage, and in 31 out of 31 states they have protected marriage as the union between one man and one woman.” On May 8, North Carolinians will have the same opportunity when they vote on a ballot measure that would amend the North Carolina constitution to protect marriage as one man and one woman. Throughout history, and in the law of most jurisdictions in Americastill today, marriage has been understood as a natural institution involving the unique unions …
This morning, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) published a document titled “Our First, Most Cherished Liberty: A Statement on Religious Liberty.” To Americans who care about and work for religious freedom, the bishops’ statement is a powerful message of solidarity. The bishops argue that, in America, religious freedom is our first and most cherished freedom and, without it, “all other freedoms are fragile.” In giving this important principle due consideration, it is also important to recognize that one of the greatest threats to religious freedom today is …
Obamacare is a train wreck for religious freedom, and the federal courts are likely going to be forced into cleaning up the mess. However, at Wednesday morning’s hearing in the Obamacare case, Justice Anthony Kennedy pointed a way for the Court to avoid the raft of divisive conflicts that Obamacare will force federal judges to resolve. The moment occurred when the government argued that the Court should show “judicial restraint” in not throwing out the entire law if it finds part of it unconstitutional. Justice Kennedy, who is a key …
The institution of marriage has seen better days in America. The question now is how Americans will think about, shape, and participate in marriage going forward. Will Americans seek to strengthen marriage, including through laws and policies that promote the public goods of responsible childbearing and the faithfulness of husbands and wives to each other and their dependent children? Or, will Americans reject the traditional understanding of marriage and replace it with mere government recognition of whatever private arrangements two or more people wish to make? Throughout history, and in …
If it weren’t for Obamacare, we wouldn’t have this problem. By “this problem,” we mean of course the Obamacare regulation that forces health insurance plans to provide coverage, without co-pay, for contraception, sterilization, and what many people believe are abortion-inducing drugs. When it was announced last August, the forced coverage mandate contained only a very narrow religious exemption. That meant it would apply to many religious employers who object on religious or moral grounds to providing, paying for, or otherwise participating in abortion, sterilization, and contraception. This result, as Heritage …
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty has already filed two lawsuits challenging the Obamacare regulation that requires many religious employers to provide health insurance coverage for sterilization, contraception, and what many people believe are abortion-inducing drugs. Those lawsuits are on behalf of Belmont Abbey College (a Benedictine Catholic college in North Carolina) and Colorado Christian University (a nondenominational Christian university in Colorado). This morning, the Becket Fund sued the Obama Administration again, this time on behalf of Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN), the Catholic television network that was started nearly …
