Americans United for Life (AUL) filed a brief today in Nebraska v. Health and Human Services, a case initiated by the state of Nebraska and six other states challenging the Obama Administration’s “HHS Mandate,” which requires that employers provide insurance coverage for all forms of FDA-approved “contraception,” including life-ending drugs and devices classified as “emergency contraception.”
AUL filed the brief on behalf of the Association of American Physicians & Surgeons and six other national medical organizations, using medical evidence to demonstrate that certain FDA-approved “contraceptives” actually kill an unborn child after fertilization. In fact, the “contraceptive” ella can kill an embryo after it has implanted (i.e., there is an established pregnancy).
So in effect, the Obama Administration is forcing employers not just to pay for “contraception,” but to pay for abortion-inducing drugs.
The Nebraska case is one of at least 38 cases that have been filed across the nation, but the only case that has been filed on behalf of a group of states (Florida, Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas). Joining the states were several private plaintiffs, including non-profit organizations such as Catholic Social Services.
The states had explained to the lower court that because the mandate offends the beliefs of some religious organizations, those organizations may opt to cease providing health insurance coverage to their employees. For example, Catholic Social Services told the court that it will drop its plan if forced to provide coverage of life-ending drugs.
The states argued that this would cause an immediate and substantial increase in enrollment in state Medicaid programs, further burdening already strained programs and threatening budgetary stability. However, the lower court dismissed the case, claiming that the states did not have standing to sue.
In addition to demonstrating that “emergency contraception” can in fact end the life of an already developing human being, the AUL brief explains that neither the states nor the private plaintiffs in the case are protected by the Obama Administration’s “safe harbor”—the one-year time period that Administration has given entities to come into compliance with the “contraceptive” mandate. In other words, employers have one year to abandon their religious beliefs and come into compliance with the Administration’s draconian mandate.
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AUL’s brief, filed on behalf of the Association of American Physicians & Surgeons, American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians & Gynecologists, Christian Medical Association, Catholic Medical Association, the National Catholic Bioethics Center, Physicians for Life, and National Association of Pro Life Nurses, is available here.
LifeNews.com Note: Mailee Smith is a staff counsel at Americans United for Life where this column originally appeared.
