Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) filed a lawsuit against the Obama administration Tuesday in Denver federal court, alleging that the Obamacare birth-control mandate violates their religious rights.
The Alliance Defending Freedom filed the suit on behalf of 400 employees of the nonprofit Catholic organization.
The organization’s religious beliefs “forbid it from facilitating the provision of abortion-inducing drugs, contraception, or sterilization through health insurance coverage it offers to its employees,” according to a press release. FOCUS employees take an Oath of Fidelity to the Catholic Church, it said.
“Faith-based organizations should be free to live and operate according to the faith they teach and espouse,” Alliance Defending Freedom attorney Mike Norton said. “If the government can fine Christian ministries out of existence for keeping their faith, there is no limit to what freedoms it can take away.”
Alliance Defending Freedom, a nonprofit legal firm that advocates for pro-life causes, has several lawsuits underway challenging what it calls Obamacare’s “abortion pill mandate” in 10 states and Washington, D.C.
“All Americans should be free to live according to their faith and to honor God in what they do,” said Senior Counsel Kevin Theriot in the press release. “Religious freedom is our God-given birthright, and this lawsuit joins more than 80 others to take a stand for that freedom, which the Constitution protects. The administration can’t sell that off for the price of an abortion pill.”
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