Paxton Wants High Court to Block Birth Control Coverage

[DhhD]

http://www.texastribune.org/2015/08/10/paxton-asks-supreme-court-take-birth-control-lawsu/

snip

A federal district court previously sided with the universities, blocking the requirement from going into effect. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services appealed the case to the New Orleans-based U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals — considered the most conservative appellate court in the country — which reversed that decision, saying the universities had “not shown and are not likely to show that the requirement substantially burdens their religious exercise under established law.”

In its ruling, the panel of the appellate court sided with the federal government in its argument that the universities’ religious exemption from providing contraception coverage did not extend to third parties left to administer insurance plans if a religious organization is exempted.

East Texas Baptist University and the Houston Baptist University are now hoping that the U.S. Supreme Court will take up their lawsuit, and Paxton’s brief is meant to support their case.

Paxton and lawyers for the religious nonprofits contend that the 5th Circuit’s ruling contradicts precedent set by the Supreme Court last year in a separate case involving Hobby Lobby.

Considering the constitutionality of the ACA’s contraception requirements, the Supreme Court ruled on a 5-4 decision that a part of the ACA requiring businesses to provide insurance coverage for certain forms of contraception violates a federal law protecting religious freedom. The court held that a family-owned, for-profit corporation was exempted from providing access to free contraception if the business’ owners have religious objections.

In the state’s brief, the AG attorneys wrote that the Hobby Lobby case indicates that the contraception mandates “constitutes a substantial burden” on religious nonprofits’ religious exercise because it triggers fines associated with not following the mandate if religious organizations do not “behave in a way contrary to their religious beliefs.”

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Senator Cruz wants an Amendment to the US Constitution to stop all contraceptives. Women will never go along with this kind of Conservatism and will vote against this backwardness.

[shenmue]

1. Just arrest all the uteruses

[Downwinder]

2. Isn't Paxton stretching his statutory limits?

Neither East Texas Baptist University nor Houston Baptist University are State Agencies.