D.C. Circuit Rejects Priests for Life Challenge to Obamacare Contraceptive Mandate

In a decision issued today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
District of Columbia Circuit ruled against a legal challenge filed
by Priests for Life and several allied Catholic organizations
against the religious accommodation provided under the Patient
Protection and Affordable Care Act’s so-called contraceptive
mandate. According to the legal challengers, although religious
nonprofits are allowed to opt out of providing contraceptive
coverage for their employees by submitting a form to the federal
government, the submission of that form still “triggers” insurance
providers to offer separate contraceptive coverage to the
employees, thereby implicating the employers in practices that
violate their religious views.

According to the D.C. Circuit, however, this opt-out procedure
does not amount to a “substantial burden” on the religious liberty
of these nonprofit organizations:

All Plaintiffs must do to opt out is express what they believe
and seek what they want via a letter or two-page form. That bit of
paperwork is more straightforward and minimal than many that are
staples of nonprofit organizations’ compliance with law in the
modern administrative state. Religious nonprofits that opt out are
excused from playing any role in the provision of contraception
services, and they remain free to condemn contraception in the
clearest terms.

The D.C. Circuit’s opinion in Priests for Life v. U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services is available
here.