Court Blocks Contraception Requirement For Religious Non-Profits

A district court judge issued a permanent injunction preventing the government from applying the contraception mandate in the Affordable Care Act to the Archdiocese of New York’s affiliated nonprofit organizations. The church’s affiliates, including many area schools, were considered by the government not exempt from the mandate, and under the law they had to provide contraception services, authorize a third-party to pay for it, or pay a fine. The church argued that even paying others to provide contraceptive care violated their religious beliefs. Judge Brian Cogan said there were many ways the government could provide that care for the nonprofit employees without the  “active participation” of the archdiocese, and that there had been so many exceptions made already, there seemed no reason not to grant one in this case.