FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Leslie Palma - 347-286-7277
WASHINGTON,
D.C. -- 4:58pm An emergency injunction granted just moments ago in the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit means that Priests for Life
will not have to obey the contraception mandate contained in the
Affordable Care Act as its appeal is being heard. It also means that,
tomorrow, Priests for Life will not have to cancel health insurance for
its employees.
Father Frank Pavone, National
Director of Priests for Life, said he is grateful his organization is
free, temporarily at least, from having to comply with the unjust
mandate or face steep fines by failing to comply when the ministry’s new
insurance policy goes into effect on Wednesday.
“We
would not have complied with this mandate in any case, as it promotes
the very culture of death that Priests for Life works to combat,” Father
Pavone said. “We are grateful for this temporary relief and look
forward to a permanent injunction once the appeal is fully heard.”
“Our
lawsuit was among the very first ones in the country and the necessity
to launch it shows that religious freedom in America is in grave danger.
We have to take action.”
On Dec. 19, Priests
for Life learned that the judge in U.S. District Court for the District
of Columbia had ruled in favor of the government. Within an hour Priests
for Life filed for the emergency injunction that was granted today.
Father
Pavone said that what the Obama administration has tried to do through
the HHS mandate – which he called a “blatant act of tyranny” – is to
give the federal government the power to determine what is and what
isn’t important in an individual’s religion; that is not the
government's role.
Father Pavone concluded,
“There have already been significant victories in the courts against the
HHS mandate, and we have no doubt that Priests for Life ultimately will
prevail in this historic fight.”
Priests
for Life is the nation's largest Catholic pro-life organization
dedicated to ending abortion and euthanasia. For more information, visitwww.priestsforlife.org
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