Diocese of Nashville, other groups join in suits over HHS ruling

The number of groups suing the government over the contraception mandate continues to grow:

The Diocese of Nashville, along with seven Middle Tennessee Catholic entities, have filed suit in Federal Court seeking to block a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services mandate requiring them to provide coverage for oral contraception as part of the Affordable Health Care Act through insurance coverage.

Mary Queen of Angels, St. Mary Villa, and Villa Maria Manor, who share the same plan, discovered late last year that oral contraception was included among their health benefits.

When they tried to remove those services from their plan, their insurance carrier, Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Tennessee, said the coverage had to be included because of the new law, which was finalized on Feb. 15, 2012.

Because their initial efforts to remove the coverage from the plan were unsuccessful, the plan was not eligible for the one-year “temporary enforcement safe harbor” from the U.S. Government Mandate when it was renewed on August 1, 2012.

As a result, those three organizations, along with Diocesan entities, Catholic Charities of Tennessee, Father Ryan High School, Pope John Paul II High School and Aquinas College, owned and operated by the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia, filed suit Wednesday.

The suits are similar to more than a dozen others that have been filed around the country in May and August, and there was broad support for them within the organizations, which are all independently incorporated under Tennessee law, officials said.

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There’s also more at the Diocese of Nashville website.