The Becket Fund FOR RELIGIOUS LIBERTY

Becket Fund’s HHS Mandate Challenge

The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty led to charge to legally challenge the Administration’s mandate. Visit Becket Fund’s HHS Information Central with all cases, maps, timeline, and resources

The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty led the charge to legally challenge the Administration’s HHS mandate.  This controversial rule requires religious institutions, in violation of their deeply held religious beliefs, to pay for drugs and services contrary to their teachings, or pay a severe fine.

The mandate was issued in August 2011, and the Becket Fund quickly raised the alarm by suing on behalf of both Belmont Abbey College, a Catholic liberal arts college founded by Benedictine monks, and Colorado Christian University, an evangelical college located outside of Denver.

After those lawsuits were filed, and after over 100,000 complaints were issued, the administration had a golden opportunity to expand the religious exemption.  However, on January 20, 2012, the administration merely gave such institutions an extra year to comply.

The Becket Fund moves forward with this crucial litigation. On February 9, 2012, the Becket Fund  filed on behalf of the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN), a Catholic news organizations founded 30 years ago by a cloistered nun named Mother Angelica.  On February 21, 2012, the Becket Fund filed on behalf of the Ave Maria University, a school dedicated to living the teachings of the Catholic church.

On March 22, 2012, the state of Alabama joined the Becket Fund’s lawsuit on behalf of EWTN, defending their citizens’ rights from offer products against their religious beliefs.

On June 28, 2012, The Supreme Court upheld the individual mandate challenge to the Affordable Care Act, but allowed the HHS mandate legal challenges to proceed.

On July 18, 2012, Wheaton College, the leading evangelical liberal arts institution, filed a lawsuit in partnership with Catholic University of America, marking the first-ever partnership between Catholic and evangelical institutions to oppose the same regulation in the same court.

On September 12, 2012, Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc.,  a privately held retail chain with more than 500 arts and crafts stores in 41 states, filed a lawsuit in the US District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma, opposing the Health and Human Services “preventive services” mandate, which forces the Christian-owned-and-operated business to provide, without co-pay, the “morning after pill” and “week after pill” in their health insurance plan, or face crippling fines up to 1.3 million dollars per day.

On October 9, 2012, East Texas Baptist University and Houston Baptist University, filed suit, echoing plea of first Baptist leader, Roger Williams, Universities demand religious freedom.

Stay tuned here for up-to-date coverage of these lawsuits.

For more information, or to arrange an interview with one of the attorneys, please contact Emily Hardman, Communications Director, at ehardman@becketfund.org or call 202.349.7224.