College Challenges Contraceptive Mandate

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College Challenges Contraceptive Mandate

Special Report - November 14, 2011
Belmont Abbey, a small Catholic college near Charlotte, North Carolina, is suing the federal government, challenging a mandate in the healthcare reform law that forces the college to pay for contraceptive drugs that may cause abortions in its group insurance plan. Belmont Abbey College has retained the services of The Beckett Fund for Religious Liberty, which filed the complaint against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on November 10. The complaint in Belmont Abbey College v. Department of Health and Human Services specifically challenges an August 2011 mandate issued by the HHS that requires public and private group health plans to include “[a]ll Food and Drug Administration approved contraceptive methods, sterilization procedures, and patient education and counseling for all women with reproductive capacity.” It notes that FDA approved contraceptives include drugs, such as Plan B and Ella, that Belmont Abbey as a Catholic institution considers to be abortifacients. The complaint argues that the mandate violates Belmont Abbey’s First Amendment rights to freedom of religion and speech, and that it is “illegal because it was imposed without prior notice or sufficient time for public comment.”

“A monk at Belmont Abbey may preach on Sunday that pre-marital sex, contraception, and abortions are immoral, but on Monday, the government would force the same monk to pay for students to receive the very drugs and procedures he denounces,” said Hannah Smith, Senior Legal Counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, in a statement. “The mandate is nothing other than a deliberate attack by the government on the religious beliefs of millions of Americans,” added Smith. “In the end, the government is forcing religious orders and believers to pay for services they find immoral or pay a stiff fine.”

The complaint explains that “the government issued an administrative rule (“the Mandate”) that runs roughshod over Belmont Abbey College’s religious beliefs, and the beliefs of millions of other Americans by forcing them to pay for contraception, sterilization, abortion, and related education and counseling. The government’s Mandate unconstitutionally coerces Belmont Abbey College to violate its deeply-held religious beliefs under threat of heavy fines and penalties. The Mandate also forces Belmont Abbey College to fund government-dictated speech that is directly at odds with its own speech and religious teachings.” In the complaint, Belmont Abbey acknowledges that the HHS allows an exemption from the mandate for certain religious organizations, but notes that this exemption is too narrow to cover most religious organizations, including religious colleges and universities, because it “excludes only certain religious employers whose purpose is to instill religious values and that employ and serve only individuals of their same faith.”

The complaint asks that the court declare the HHS mandate an unconstitutional violation of the college’s First Amendment rights, and asks that it “issue an order prohibiting” enforcement of the mandate “against the college and other religious organizations that object to providing insurance coverage for contraceptives (including abortifacient contraceptives), sterilization procedures, and related education and counseling.”

Related resources:
Administration Requires Free Contraception - August 4, 2011
Becket Fund Defends Belmont Abbey - October 12, 2009
Federal Agency Mandates Abortion Coverage - August 17, 2009