Evangelical College Joins Contraceptive Challenge

Special Report - December 29, 2011
An Evangelical Christian college has joined a Catholic college in North Carolina in challenging a federal mandate in the healthcare reform law that forces religious institutions to pay for contraceptives, including drugs that cause abortions, in their group health insurance plans. Colorado Christian University (CCU) filed a lawsuit challenging the contraceptive mandate in the Affordable Care Act on December 21 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado. CCU is represented in the lawsuit, CCU v. Sebulius, by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which also represents Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina in a separate but related lawsuit that was filed in November (see our previous story on the Belmont Abbey lawsuit). According to the Becket Fund, both 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.” Both lawsuits are in response to 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.”

“Abortion is a highly controversial issue in American life,” said CCU President Bill Armstrong in a Becket Fund press release. “This mandate forbids us from practicing what we preach. 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?”

Although the HHS mandate does include an exemption for certain religious organizations, the lawsuits allege that the exemption is not broad enough to cover religious colleges and universities. According to a Becket Fund information sheet on the CCU lawsuit, “Colorado Christian University believes it will not be excluded from the requirements of the government mandate under the religious employer exemption. The exemption is extremely narrow, covering only certain religious employers whose purpose is to inculcate religious values and which employ and serve those of their same faith. As a result, many religious colleges and universities, social service organizations, and hospitals will not qualify for the exemption.”

“If the Administration thought that conscience objections to this HHS mandate would be muted or isolated, Colorado Christian’s lawsuit proves otherwise,” said Hannah Smith, Senior Legal Counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, in a statement. “Evangelical Christians have now joined Catholics to defend their religious rights.”

Related resources:
College Challenges Contraceptive Mandate - November 14, 2011
Administration Requires Free Contraception- August 4, 2011
Becket Fund Defends Belmont Abbey - October 12, 2009
Federal Agency Mandates Abortion Coverage - August 17, 2009

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