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State AGs threaten to sue over birth-control mandate
Three state attorneys general say they’ll sue the Obama administration over its controversial birth-control mandate unless the White House backs down on its own.
“Not only is the proposed contraceptive coverage mandate for religious employers bad policy, it is unconstitutional,” the attorneys general said in a letter to top administration officials Thursday. “It conflicts with the most basic elements of the freedoms of religion, speech and association, as provided under the First Amendment.”
The White House policy requires employers to cover a wide range of women’s health services, including contraception, in their employees’ healthcare plans. Churches and places of worship are exempt from the contraception mandate, but institutions such as Catholic hospitals and universities are not.
“We are deeply troubled by the unprecedented coercion of organizations and individuals to act contrary to their religious beliefs,” the state attorneys general said.
Congressional Republicans have also argued that the policy is unconstitutional.
Democrats argue that employees of larger institutions with broad missions haven’t necessarily signed on to a set of religious beliefs. Taking a job at a church is one thing, they say, but professors and nurses are not working to advance a particular faith even if they work for a university or a hospital affiliated with the Catholic Church.
