DuPage County Health Provider Latest to be Granted Injunction Against 'Obamacare' Mandate
By: Scott Picken
Updated: January 4, 2013
CHICAGO -- A federal court has granted an injunction to a Chicago-area Roman Catholic health care services company against the Obamacare mandate that employers provide contraceptive services as part of their health insurance plans. The injunction in favor of the DuPage County company is the latest in a series of court injunctions granted to religious-based organization who have a moral objection to providing coverage for contraception and sterilization. They claim the Obamacare mandate violates their First Amendment rights to religious freedom.
"This is a major victory for our clients and for the cause of religious liberty," said Kevin Edward White, board member and legal counsel for Chicago's Thomas More Society, which represented Triune in court. He says the company was faced with the choice of "either ... to comply with the federal mandate's requirements in violation of their religious beliefs, or pay ruinous fines that would have a crippling impact on their business and force them to shut down."
The Obama administration has argued the law allows faith-based companies to comply without directly violating their own moral beliefs. The owners of Hobby Lobby, however, which is not a faith-based organization, are facing millions in fines because its owners morally object to providing contraceptive coverage. The U.S. Supreme Court refused Hobby Lobby's request to block the implementation of law on moral grounds. Despite that, it seems likely the Court will be compelled to hear challenges to the contraception mandate which are currently being heard in lower courts.
