{"id":2774,"date":"2013-03-29T06:02:00","date_gmt":"2013-03-29T06:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/pro-life-democrats-call-for-broad-hhs-mandate-exemptions\/"},"modified":"2013-03-29T06:02:00","modified_gmt":"2013-03-29T06:02:00","slug":"pro-life-democrats-call-for-broad-hhs-mandate-exemptions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/03\/pro-life-democrats-call-for-broad-hhs-mandate-exemptions\/","title":{"rendered":"Pro-life Democrats call for broad HHS mandate exemptions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Washington D.C., Mar 29, 2013 \/ 12:02 am (CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- For-profit businesses should be exempt from contraception mandate requirements that they provide abortifacient drugs, Democrats for Life of America argued in briefs recently filed in federal court cases.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cOur nation has a longstanding and pervasive tradition of accommodating conscientious objections to facilitating abortion,\u201d said Kristen Day, director of Democrats For Life of America, said March 26.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cDFLA was proud to support the Affordable Care Act after we were assured that conscience rights under the ACA were protected. The Executive Order specifically spells out that fact. The administration should hold to its commitment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tDemocrats for Life of America were joined by Bart Stupak, a Democrat and formerly a Representative of Michigan, in filing the \u201camicus curiae,\u201d or \u201cfriend of the court\u201d briefs in two cases.<\/p>\n

\tThe cases involve private businesses who are suing the Health and Human Services department over its mandate that they provide insurance coverage for contraception and abortifacient drugs, despite conscientious objections to these practices.<\/p>\n

\tThe briefs were filed in the Tenth and Third Circuits of the U.S. Court of Appeals, and argue that the HHS mandate violates the First Amendment as well as the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA).<\/p>\n

\tBoth businesses, Hercules Industries and Conestoga Wood Specialties Corporation, have been granted preliminary injunctions against the HHS mandate by lower courts, which are being challenged at the appellate level.<\/p>\n

\tDemocrats for Life of America does not uniformly oppose the mandate that businesses offer coverage of non-abortifacient contraceptives, only emergency contraceptives such as Plan B and Ella which may cause abortions.<\/p>\n

\tHowever, the brief involving Colorado-based Hercules Industries did note that the requirement concerning non-abortifacient contraceptives \u201csubstantially burdens religious freedom and must satisfy\u201d the Religious Freedom Restoration Act's test of \u201ccompelling government interest.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThis brief noted that protections for conscientious objection to abortion \u201ccarry especially strong weight in American law,\u201d and that the right not to \u201cfacilitate or support abortions\u201d is regularly recognized as extending even to those engaged in commerce and for-profit businesses.<\/p>\n

\tDemocrats for Life of America also argued that the protections granted to those who oppose abortion are not limited to \u201cdirect involvement\u201d in the act, but goes \u201cfar beyond\u201d the act itself.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cPlaintiffs\u2019 objection to covering emergency contraception falls within the tradition of broadly protecting conscientious objections to facilitating abortions,\u201d said the brief.<\/p>\n

\tIt argued that while the Obama administration claims the termination of an embryo prior to implantation in the womb is not an abortion\u00a0\u2013 how emergency contraceptives can work \u2013 \u201cthe relevant matter for the claim of conscience under RFRA is plaintiff's belief that a distinct human life begins at fertilization.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cIt is no salve to their conscience to be told that the government defines abortion differently.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Washington D.C., Mar 29, 2013 \/ 12:02 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- For-profit businesses should be exempt from contraception mandate requirements that they provide abortifacient drugs, Democrats for Life of America argued in briefs recently filed in federal co…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-us"],"yoast_head":"\nPro-life Democrats call for broad HHS mandate exemptions<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Washington D.C., Mar 29, 2013 \/ 12:02 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- For-profit businesses should be exempt from contraception mandate requirements that they provide abortifacient drugs, Democrats for Life of America argued in briefs recently filed in federal co...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, 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