From staff and wire reports
The Pittsburgh and Erie Roman Catholic dioceses have settled lawsuits seeking to overturn an Affordable Care Act mandate that would have forced them to provide contraceptive and abortion-inducing drugs or services as part of their employee health care plans.
President Donald Trump’s administration announced Oct. 6 that it was rescinding the mandate that was part of the health reform laws known as “Obamacare.” The new rules also broadened “conscience protections” to include nonprofits and certain other businesses that claim a moral objection to contraception or abortion, even if it’s not religious-based.
But lawsuits filed in 2012 challenging the mandate still remained after the U.S. Supreme Court last year ordered the religious entities and the government to settle the dispute.
“Our litigation sought to re-establish the cornerstone principle that freedom of religion means freedom to practice our faith in daily life, not just in worship and prayer,” Zubik said in a statement. “On the other hand, this agreement does not prohibit the government from providing contraceptives. But it does prohibit the government and others from using church-related insurance plans as a conduit for such coverage.”
The Erie Diocese and Bishop Lawrence Persico also released a statement.
“This agreement allows faith-based organizations to uphold our religious mission in a diverse society,” Persico said. “For that, we are deeply grateful. We have maintained from the beginning that the government cannot force anyone – Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, or other – to do something that violates their sincerely-held religious beliefs.”
Persico added that “it has been a long journey, and I am grateful to the many people who came together with the courage of their convictions to make this happen. I am proud of the Diocese of Erie for being a part of this coordinated, grassroots effort by more than 70 religious organizations.”
Zubik’s lawsuit called the mandate an “unprecedented government infringement on the religious liberties of religious organizations” in arguing that only church entities that primarily employ and serve Catholics were exempted.
The lawsuit, which also included the diocese’s local Catholic Charities and Catholic Cemeteries Association, said a compromise announced by President Barack Obama that shifted the burden of providing the coverage from the organizations to their insurance companies was an “accounting gimmick” – and didn’t help the diocese anyway because it is self-insured.
