Earlier this week, 43 different Catholic institutions filed suit against the Department of Health and Human Services over the mandate that employers pay all contraceptive costs for female employees. After much outcry earlier in the year, the administration issued an “accommodation” that supposedly exempted organization that had a religious objection to covering contraception. The solution was to pass the costs along to the insurance provider. That adjustment is nowhere near good enough for the dozens of Catholic diocese, charities and hospitals that are filing suit. Bill Donahue is president of the Catholic League. His organization is not part of the lawsuit but Donahue has taken part in extensive conversations with New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan and others who are leading the legal challenge. Donahue says two major concerns are at the heart of the lawsuits. He says protecting religious liberties enshrined in the first amendment to the Constitution are at the heart of the case- but so is a little-known wrinkle in the Obama “accommodation”. Donahue says for an organization to qualify for the religious exemption, it must almost exclusively serve and employ people of the same faith. So Catholic universities, charities and hospitals that welcome people of all faiths do not qualify for the exemption. Donahue says he is confident that the Supreme Court will dismantle much of Obamacare in the coming weeks. If not, he believes the 43 Catholic groups will likely win their challenge on first amendment grounds. But Donahue says if all legal effort come up empty, some 600 Catholic hospitals and charitable organizations will close their doors before agreeing to subsidize abortion-inducing drugs. He claims this contraception mandate is just the “camel’s nose in the tent” and the Obama administration will soon want to mandate that all hospitals provide abortion services. Donahue says Catholics have overwhelming support from Evangelicals, Protestants, Mormons and Jews because, as he says, “They know they’re next”.
