“The U.S. Court of Appeals recognized that violating people’s First Amendment Freedom of Conscience is wrong,” noted AUL’s Dr. Charmaine Yoest, from
last week’s oral arguments.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (12-19-12) – AUL President and CEO Dr. Charmaine Yoest called this week’s ruling in legal challenges filed by Belmont Abbey College and Wheaton College “a warning shot across the bow of Obamacare, which is intertwined with pro-abortion policies despite the objection of many Americans. As a graduate of Wheaton College, I congratulate my alma mater and Belmont Abbey College on this significant victory. This is a first step toward halting the anti-life coercion in the healthcare law. AUL has fought against this coercion since Congress began debating the healthcare law and filed an amicus curiae brief in this case.”
The case in question is the first of more than 40 legal challenges to the so-called HHS mandate to be argued before an appellate court. In an amicus curiae brief submitted in support of the Colleges’ challenge to the mandate, AUL outlined the life-ending action of so-called “emergency contraception” and argued that the mandate violates the Colleges’ sincerely held beliefs and Freedom of Conscience.
AUL filed the brief on behalf of six national medical organizations, including the Association of American Physicians & Surgeons and the Catholic Medical Association, concerned that the HHS mandate mislabels life-ending drugs as “contraception” and forces individuals and businesses to pay for the drugs, often in violation of their First Amendment Freedom of Conscience.
