AMU Renews Court Challenge to Obamacare Mandate
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Published on Thursday, 29 August 2013 18:42
Ave Maria University will be back in court, opposing the federal government's mandate that its insurance plan cover procedures against the teaching of the Catholic Church, AMU President Jim Towey announced Thursday.
"No Republican or Democratic president in memory ever sought to attack religious freedom in this fashion," Mr. Towey told a news conference.
"The Obama administration's mandate that seeks to coerce Ave Maria University to cooperate with its scheme to make abortion-inducing drugs, sterilization and other contraceptive services available to employees under our employer-provided health plan, is unconstitutional and a violation of Federal law, and today we are suing to prevent its enforcement," Mr. Towey said.
An earlier lawsuit by AMU – one of dozens filed by organizations opposing the mandate – was dismissed by a federal judge on technical grounds that the Obama administration's rules had not yet been published.
Now that the regulations have been finalized, AMU is going back to court.
On January 1, 2014, the so-called "safe harbor" protection the University now enjoys will no longer exist, and the Obama administration's contraception mandate will be in full force. Fines for no compliance could cost the university as much as $7 million, Mr. Towey said, and "seem to have the intended effect of forcing us to choose to either violate our religious beliefs or face bankruptcy.
Click here for a the text of Mr. Towey's remarks
Click here for the Beckett Fund's website showing status of similar lawsuits
