The Thomas More Law Center is in court today arguing against the Health and Human Services mandate that ObamaCare insurance exchanges provide free coverage for abortifacient drugs and sterilization.
Attorney Erin Mersino is asking for an injunction to halt implementation of the mandate on the basis that it is a clear violation of free exercise of religion. In three other lawsuits, federal judges have dismissed the cases, saying they are not ripe.
"We know that the rule as it is enacted now makes it mandatory for Legatus to provide the preventive services that include the contraceptives and abortifacients that Legatus' religious beliefs directly oppose," she declares.
Legatus, the Thomas More Law Center's client, is the nation's largest organization of top Catholic business leaders. The courts in three of four cases have told others to wait, because HHS is evolving on the mandate.
"What's to say that what they're going to come back with is going to be constitutional," Mersino questions. "We've seen the way that the secretary of HHS has handled free exercise of religion through her actions when she promulgated this rule, so why would we give faith that she would actually make this constitutional?"
If the redrawn mandate did appear to pass constitutional muster, it could be revised again later. So, Mersino is hopeful the court will rule on constitutional issues now, rather than re-filing the cases next year, if HHS continues to violate religious rights.