The U.S. government has admitted that there may be a path to consensus on the issue of religion objection to contraceptives.
Many religious organizations, including the Little Sisters of the Poor,
Thomas Aquinas College, and The Catholic University of America are
involved in a court battle to gain the religious freedom not to be
involved in the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive mandate.
Christian Today reports that the case Zubik v. Burwell was heard by the
Supreme Court recently. The Plaintiffs in the case assured the Court
that there were other options for providing contraception without their
involvement.
One of the options suggested was that the government provide the
contraceptive coverage free of charge so that this type of coverage
wouldn’t need to be part of the health insurance plans of the religious
organizations.
Mark Rienzi of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, summed up the
good news for religious organizations: “The government has now admitted
'yes, we can get people contraceptives without involving nuns.' That's a
pretty logical point. It shouldn't have taken five years of litigation
to admit that, but it's good that they have admitted it. And now it's a
pretty easy path to consensus for the Court."
Rienzi also stressed that the religious organizations have no problem
with the government providing the contraceptive coverage, they just do
not want to be involved in providing it themselves.
"If it's really truly separate from us, that's fine," he said. "We've
actually always been saying yes to things that are truly separate. And
from our point of view, the government just really needs to take yes for
an answer here."
The Supreme Court is expected to issue a decision in this case in June.
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