1st Amendment trumps Obamacare mandate

Washington Examiner Editorial:
"There is no, 'Trust us, changes are coming' clause in the Constitution," U.S. District Court Judge Brian Cogan wrote in his ruling against President Obama's Department of Health and Human Services Wednesday. "To the contrary, the Bill of Rights itself, and the First Amendment in particular, reflect a degree of skepticism towards governmental self-restraint and self-correction."

Unfortunately, Obama and his liberal allies have not shown an ounce of skepticism toward government since they assumed power almost four years ago. By denying the Obama administration's motion to dismiss a lawsuit by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York (and two other affiliated organizations) challenging the Obamacare requirement that all employers provide abortifacient contraceptives on demand, America's third branch of government scored a major victory for the First Amendment and civil society.

The Archdiocese's suit against HHS stems from the Obamacare mandate that all employers provide their employees with government-approved health insurance coverage or else pay large fines. In February of this year, HHS finalized regulations requiring all health plans to cover "the full range of Food and Drug Administration approved contraceptive methods," including emergency contraceptives that end pregnancies after conception instead of merely preventing them.

Insurers and self-insuring employers who fail to cover these drugs can be assessed large fines of $100 per employee per day -- this would come to $3.65 million per year for a self-insuring Catholic hospital that has 100 employees, according to a report from the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Catholic organizations such as co-plaintiff ArchCare, which provides health care to the poor, faced a choice: Act in direct violation of your religious beliefs, or be fined and taxed out of existence by Obama's HHS. Instead, they chose to defend their First Amendment rights in federal court.
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The judge found that HHS had 10 months to come up with its "corrective" mandate and had failed to do so.  This is another area where Obamacare deserves to be slapped down.  It is a nonsensical madate to begin with based on the false premise that the price is unaffordable.  It also is based on teh false premise that fertility is sickness to be treated rather than a healthy condition.

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