Two more evangelical Christian colleges have filed federal lawsuits against the Obama administration over the Health and Human Services mandate requiring them to provide insurance coverage for abortion-inducing drugs.
Alliance Defending Freedom filed the lawsuits on behalf of Biola University in California and Grace College and Seminary in Indiana. Attorney Matt Bowman says the disputed mandate violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
"The federal government is bound by the strictest level of protection of religious freedom that exists under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act," he asserts. "The government in this case simply is completely unjustified when it attempts to tell people of faith that they have to choose between serving the community and spreading the Good News on one hand, or facing crippling fines and penalties because the government wants them to participate in the provision of abortion-inducing drugs."
He says ADF is ready and willing to take these cases to the U.S. Supreme Court.
"We think this is the kind of case where the U.S. Supreme Court would take it and would ultimately rule that the federal government cannot violate the First Amendment and religious freedom law by forcing people of faith to abandon their faith," Bowman states.
ADF attorneys contend the mandate also violates the First and Fifth Amendments to the Constitution.