A Catholic health management company has become the tenth entity to receive a favorable judicial ruling preventing enforcement of the pro-abortion HHS mandate that is a part of Obamacare.
Attorneys for Jubilee Campaign’s Law of Life Project and Thomas More Society filed federal and state court motions for preliminary injunction to stop the state of Illinois and the Obama administration from imposing confiscatory fines and other legal sanctions on a Catholic health management company for exercising their state and federal free exercise of religion rights not to be forced to pay for drugs that may cause abortions for their employees.
Christopher and Mary Anne Yep, the devout Catholic founders and owners of Triune Health Group, are behind the complaints and did not want to severe monetary penalties and other regulatory requirements to provide insurance coverage and pay for abortifacients, sterilizations, and contraceptives that violate their conscience. The HHS mandate requires employees to include birth control and potentially abortion-causing drugs in their employee health plans and a narrowly-drawn religious exemption excludes most companies and groups.
The Yeps embrace a belief which is embedded in Triune’s mission statement that each individual be “treated with the human dignity and respect that God intended.” They say the Obamacare contraceptive mandate, administered by HHS and the other federal agencies named in the lawsuit, as well as the Illinois insurance contraceptive mandate, administered by Illinois’ Department of Insurance, require the Triune to provide and pay for abortion-related and contraceptive coverage for its employees and their families.
They say that imposes a gravely oppressive burden on the Yeps’ deeply held religious beliefs.
“The federal and state governments are coercing our clients to violate their conscientious convictions in a fashion that is completely at odds with the resounding declarations of our Founding Fathers and our modern Supreme Court jurisprudence,” said Samuel B. Casey, Managing Director and General Counsel for the Jubilee Campaign’s Law of Life Project.
Casey praised the Yeps’ courage in standing up for their fundamental rights, applauding the Yeps for “taking a stand to defend their right to run their business in a way that does not conflict with their faith and religious free conscience.”
Casey told LifeNews in a statement, “The Yeps and their company, Triune Health Group, are far from alone. More than 47 lawsuits like the Yeps’ federal suit are pending in the federal courts with some courts granting the preliminary injunctive relief requested and others declining to do so.”
He said the most recent polling data from December 2012 shows Americans support a religious exemption to the HHS contraceptive mandate for individuals and organizations like the Yeps and Triune.
Casey complained that the Obama Administration has defended forcing private employers to provide insurance coverage for abortion-inducing drugs, sterilization, and contraception, with an argument that people of faith forfeit their religious liberties once they opt to engage in business. The Triune case also asserts the primacy of religious liberties and free speech on behalf of a private company and its owners, who view business as a form of religious stewardship and an integral part of their lives as faithful Roman Catholics, he said.
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Triune Health Group has won public plaudits, not only as “the best” employer for women but also as an outstanding employer for everybody, having also placed very high on Crain’s 2012 “Best Place to Work” list.
Recently, LifeNews reported on how the founder of Dominos Pizza won his bid for an emergency order to prevent enforcement of the mandate while the lawsuit it filed against the Obama administration over the HHS mandate that forces religious employers to purchase drugs that may cause abortions for their employees continues.
