“Federal law and the Constitution prohibit the Obama Administration’s attempt to bully nuns who care for the elderly poor by forcing them to buy life-ending devices they don’t want or face the punishing hand of government” said AUL attorney Evangeline Bartz.

MEDIA ADVISORY: AUL Legal Experts Available for Comment

WASHINGTON, D.C. (03-23-16) – Americans United for Life attorney Evangeline Bartz spoke outside the U.S. Supreme Court as the Justices heard oral arguments in seven consolidated cases that challenge the Obama Administration’s “HHS mandate” that forces religious non-profit employers to facilitate insurance coverage of life-ending drugs and devices.  “The Obama Administration’s true colors are exposed by its decision to bully nuns who care for the elderly poor with the threat of millions of dollars in fines and years of litigation—while large corporations such as Exxon, Chevron, and Pepsi are not subject to the mandate because their plans are grandfathered,” said Mrs. Bartz.  She continued: “The HHS Mandate is about coercion, not choice. It is a product of the Administration’s extreme commitment to a pro-abortion agenda and is an attack on hard-won constitutional freedom of conscience.”

The amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief filed by Americans United for Life’s legal team in the consolidated cases was AUL’s 29th amicus brief defending the rights of Americans under assault by the landmark anti-life law that is known as Obamacare. In its brief, AUL represents national medical groups and demonstrates that the life of a new human being begins at fertilization, that so-called “emergency contraception” has post-fertilization effects that can end the life of a new, developing, unique human being, and that forcing the religious employers to facilitate and provide coverage for such drugs violates their freedom of conscience guaranteed by the Constitution and federal law.

For six years, since the enactment of the healthcare law known as “Obamacare,” AUL has led efforts to mitigate the coercive anti-life provisions of the law, following up on efforts during the legislative process to fight for conscience rights. Abortion advocates, like Planned Parenthood, helped shaped the pro-abortion law now in court, and have had a pattern of intimidating those who do not wish to fund its life-ending products.  With Planned Parenthood’s help, President Obama’s 2008 campaign promise to put abortion at “the heart” of his healthcare plan came to fruition.

Abortion is woven into the healthcare law at multiple levels, making repeal of the law a pro-life necessity, including:

  • Failing to prohibit the use of federal tax dollars for abortion, abortion coverage, and abortion-inducing drugs and devices.
  • Pretending that the Hyde Amendment protections were enough to prohibit direct payment for abortions.
  • Permitting federally subsidized Qualified Health Plans (QHPs) to provide abortion coverage through the state insurance exchanges required in all 50 states.
  • Failing to prohibit all multi-state qualified health plans from providing coverage for abortion.
  • Including a “preventive care” mandate that is being used to force coverage of drugs and devices known to end life.
  • Failing to provide comprehensive First Amendment conscience protections for individuals, employers, and insurance companies that have religious or moral objections to abortion.

To learn more about how real healthcare respects life, click here.

To learn more about how abortion harms women, click here.

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