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ST. LOUIS — A federal appeals court on Nov. 28 granted a Catholic business owner in Missouri an injunction against the Department of Health and Human Services' mandate that he says violates his religious freedom by forcing him to provide insurance coverage for morally objectionable drugs and procedures.
“The order sends a message that the religious beliefs of employers must be respected by the government,” said Francis Manion, senior counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice.
The center is representing Frank O’Brien and his St. Louis-based business O’Brien Industrial Holdings, LLC, which operates many businesses in ceramic materials exploration, mining and processing.
“We have argued from the beginning that employers like Frank O'Brien must be able to operate their business in a manner consistent with their moral values, not the values of the government,” Manion said Nov. 28. “We look forward to this case moving forward and securing the constitutional rights of our client.”
The HHS mandate requires that most businesses with 50 or more employees provide the coverage as “preventive care” for women. Violators face fines of $100 per employee per day.
The injunction from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit blocks the implementation of the mandate for O’Brien’s business. In October, a federal district judge had dismissed the lawsuit.
O’Brien’s 87-employee business was the first private business to challenge the mandate.
The company’s website states that its mission is “to make our labor a pleasing offering to the Lord while enriching our families and society.” Its values statement stresses integrity in conduct “guided by the Golden Rule and the Ten Commandments,” while also pledging not to discriminate based on anyone’s beliefs.
O’Brien has created several programs to help employees purchase homes, fund their children’s college educations and save for retirement.
Religious Exemptions
Missouri law mandates contraception coverage in employee health-care plans, but exempts employers with religious objections.
The federal mandate’s present religious exemption applies only to nonprofit organizations that primarily serve and employ people of the same religion and have the inculcation of religious values as their primary purpose. The exemption is so narrow that it may not apply to Catholic nonprofit employers like colleges, health-care systems and charities.
The Obama administration proposed a broader exemption in February, but its details are still unclear. President Obama’s re-election campaign attacked the Republican candidate Mitt Romney for supporting federal legislation that would secure a broader exemption.
More than 40 lawsuits have been filed against the HHS mandate, representing 110-plus plaintiffs. Plaintiffs include Catholic dioceses, the University of Notre Dame and the EWTN Global Catholic Network (the Register's parent company) as well as Protestant organizations like the Virginia-based Liberty University and the Bible publisher Tyndale House Publishers.
They say the mandate violates their religious freedom, protected by the U.S. Constitution and federal law, and forces them to provide coverage for drugs and procedures to which they have religious and moral objections.
The Christian-owned retailer Hobby Lobby is the largest private business to challenge the mandate on the grounds its owners object to providing abortion-causing drugs in their employee insurance plans.
The company is appealing a Nov. 20 federal court’s refusal of a request for a legal injunction against the mandate. The employer of more than 13,000 full-time employees could face $1.3 million in daily fines if it does not comply.
Edward Pentin: Images of Rome's 2013 March for Life
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I’m glad for them and sad for the Diocese of Pittsburgh. The Diocese of Pittsburgh case was thrown out by a judge who said that the diocese has not suffered any harm yet so there isn’t a case.
From JayJay: This is not the first time the faith has been under assault. The ACLU has been in the forefront of this agenda. Such absurdities. Christmas trees called holiday trees. Christmas called a winter holiday. What is missed is that the word “holiday” is an evolvement of the old English words “holy day.” So while ranting about the separation of church and state (which, by the way, is not in the language of our Constitution), they are mandating observance of holiness. In their zeal, someone should do some homework about word roots. About the mandate: News reports say that businesses are cutting employee hours to part-time to avoid the heavy boot-on-the-neck tax burdens and fines attached to Obamacare. Businesses are allowed by law to not provide health insurance for part-timers. So this action also allows businesses to negate health insurance coverage, thus also negating the requirement to provide coverage for abortions, abortion drugs and birth control medications. It’s really sad that again, it is the innocent who pay the heavier price for the imposition of government into private life.
Good start.
The only right outcome is the overturning of the mandate. Then we need someone to step up and start a health insurance company that does not include any of these items, so that Catholics and others can buy from a business that doesn’t support these evils at all…
Also, we need something to protect Catholic individuals too…because if a person has to buy individual coverage, and the only options contain abortion/abortifacient coverage (which is going to be the case, it appears, in the state “exchanges” which may be the only option for some people), then a Catholic individual will be forced to support evil, or else do without and pay the penalty (the so called “tax”).
Obamacare violates our Constitutional principles and basic principles of the Catholic Church. In the interest of brevity refer to “Bill of Rights”(among other sections)and refer to paragraphs 1883 & 1885 (among other sections)in the Catechism of the Catholic Church wherein it specifies the principle of subsidiarity stating, “Excessive intervention by the state can threaten personal freedom and initiative. The principle of subsidiarity is opposed to all forms of collectivism.” Obamacare must be repealed! As the “Declaration” says, “Whenever any form of Government becomes destructive of these ends it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it.”
I wrote a “poem” some months ago, stapled it in my pocketsize Constitution for ready reference. Recently was put up on you tube. Each line is a factual reason for repeal. You can see/hear “Dad on Obamacare”
go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PrNgqNYfJk
I think there will be more business’s that will do the same. glad to hear that they are doing this. I still can’t understand any catholic that voted for Obama, its like saying I don’t believe in forcing somebody else to believe against that, but I will make sure that you can get one. Something is very wrong with that kind of thinking.
I didn’t think there were non-Catholic in dioceses. They should just hire Catholics so they won’t be affected. I know this doesn’t work for hospitals but I sure wouldn’t mind just Catholics working at dioceses and Catholic schools.
The great thing about “America” is that we have the freedom to act in accordance with our moral conscious and this is essentially protected by the Constitution. And so if somebody wants something that I can’t or don’t want to give them, then they can get it from someone else who has a different set of “moral values”. This all falls apart and I end up hating my neighbor and my government when someone forces me to give them what I don’t want to give. Tax money for near-do-wells is one thing, but violating the deeper layers of the conscience is a recipe for civil war.
TG: It would be unlawful to ask a person’s faith and if not Catholic, deny employment. Many of the arch-diocese’s agencies and charities employ non-Catholics. At that, the base issue here is not religion, but freedom of the same, no matter what faith a person believes in. Our Constitution says no government shall impose any religion upon anyone nor suppress the freedom of expression thereof. Asking Catholics to go against the teachings of the church is therefore unconstitutional.
Jeff, unfortunately, between the last 4 presidents, congress and the Supreme Court, the US Constitution is now essentially null and void. As Catholics, I think its time to change the playing field and focus on a winnable strategy - Our Church teaches subsidiarity. I like what Tom Woods has to say about nullification and/or secession. The federal government is operating outside the law and we have a better chance of reclaiming our sovereignty through the states. Not to say all states are equal or any have a recent track record of restoring freedom but they are smaller and there is a greater chance of success.
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