Court Order Permanently Protects Christian School From Obamacare Abortion Mandate

By Max Augros
CNS News

On July 5, the U.S. Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania ordered that the federal government is permanently prohibited from forcing Geneva College, a Christian school in Pennsylvania, to pay for abortive services included in the Obamacare mandate.

The federal court also found that former President Obama’s Affordable Care Act (ACA) “constitutes a violation of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (‘RFRA’).”

The court’s permanent injunction and declaratory relief order states that:

“IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that defendants, their respective successors in office, their agents, officers, employees and all others in active concert or participation with them are hereby PERMANENTLY ENJOINED AND RESTRAINED from 1) applying or enforcing the requirements of [coverage of preventative health services] and implementing regulations and accommodation process, and 2) pursuing any enforcement actions against, or imposing any penalties upon Geneva College.”

Since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the ACA, or Obamacare, as a valid tax in 2012, the Obama-era mandate has had the effect of forcing employers to provide their employees with healthcare plans that include an array of contraceptive and abortive drugs.

Many other pro-life Christian schools and organizations throughout the country have filed lawsuits against the ACA since it infringes on their religious beliefs with the threat of financial penalties, if they refuse to comply.

The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a conservative Christian organization dedicated to protecting religious freedom in court, represented Geneva College in the suit.

ADF Senior Counsel Gregory S. Baylor said in a press release that “religious organizations have the freedom to operate peacefully according to their beliefs without the threat of punishment by the government. Today’s order fully affirms that freedom and provides permanent protection from the mandate.”

Website: CNS News

Laws Targeting Pregnancy Centers Are on the Rise. Here’s How They Can Protect Their Rights.

By Ken Connelly, Legal Counsel, ADF
National Right to Life

Pregnancy centers are motivated by the belief that life is a sacred gift from God, and that each individual human being deserves to be protected and welcomed into the world with open arms. But in a society where the freedom to peacefully live and work according to one’s sincerely held beliefs is under siege, it’s no surprise that pregnancy centers increasingly find themselves in the crosshairs.

At the top of the list of those targeting pregnancy centers are pro-abortion organizations and activists who object to the life-affirming services that these centers provide to pregnant women and their unborn children. In fact, in many states they, and their allies in state and local governments, have launched legislative campaigns to compel pregnancy centers to refer or advertise for abortion or abortifacient medications.

These efforts, which are growing more and more frequent and widespread, are aimed at destroying pregnancy centers by making them speak what they do not believe, and by making them act in ways that conflict with their very reason for being.

That’s why Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) has created a new legal guide, Protecting Your Pregnancy Center from Religious Freedom Threats. It aims to provide pregnancy centers with the knowledge and foresight necessary to enable them to continue to operate in a way that is consistent with their mission and beliefs, without fear and without apology.

Within the guide are examples of what other ministries around the country are facing; how other pregnancy centers may be vulnerable to similar threats; and what they can do to secure crucial legal protections to help them prevail in the legal challenges that are sure to come.

It is not always easy to protect and defend life, especially when pressure and intimidation from a hostile world threaten the very mission of these pro-life pregnancy centers. But ADF remains ready to help as they protect life and seek to make abortion unwanted.

Pro-Life Pregnancy Centers Should Never Be Forced into Abortion Advocacy by the State

ADF stands ready to defend the right of pregnancy centers to operate according to their beliefs. Get a free copy of this guide to learn more about these rights, current cases, and practical steps pregnancy centers can take to protect themselves.  Get My Free Copy!

Website: National Right to Life

ABC and NBC Call Pro-Life Legal Organization a “Hate Group”

By Leah Barkoukis
Life News

ABC and NBC News described Alliance Defending Freedom, a nonprofit legal organization dedicated to protecting religious liberty, as a “hate group” in headlines this week.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions addressed the group’s summit on religious freedom in California on Tuesday, and the networks were covering Democrat and LGBT backlash against the speech.

“Jeff Sessions addresses ‘anti-LGBT hate group,’ but DOJ won’t release his remarks,” read ABC’s headline. NBC’s was no better: “Attorney General Jeff Sessions Criticized for Speaking to ‘Hate Group.'”

The hate group designation of ADF comes from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), which has been widely criticized in recent years for labeling mainstream conservative and religious organizations as ‘hate groups’ without justification. 

In recent years, the FBI has distanced itself from the SPLC, due to the egregious politicization. In 2012, a gay activist shot a security guard at the offices of the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C. The shooter targeted the Family Research Council after locating the the organization on the SPLC’s “hate map.”

THE WEEKLY STANDARD was present for Sessions’s speech Tuesday. In addressing the alleged ‘hate group,’ Sessions quoted liberal Catholic historian Gary Wills and spent significant portions of the speech discussing the positive example of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (The Weekly Standard)

ADF has worked on a number of high-profile religious liberty cases, including the recent Supreme Court ruling in favor of one of its clients, Trinity Lutheran Church.

The group has played a role in 51 victories at the Supreme Court and has won nearly 80 percent of all its cases, according to ADF’s website.

LifeNews Note: Leah Barkoukis writes for TownHall, where this column originally appeared.

Website: Life News