Obamacare Contraception Mandate Does Not Violate Religious Freedom, Federal Judge [View all]

[elleng]

Obamacare doesn't violate the religious freedom of employers that don't want to cover contraceptives, a federal judge in Missouri has ruled.

Frank O'Brien, the owner of O'Brien Industrial Holdings, filed a lawsuit in March claiming that Obamacare violated his religious freedom by mandating that his company's health insurance cover employees' contraceptive use, according to Courthouse News Service. But U.S. District Judge Carol Jackson ruled on Friday that this Obamacare provision indeed is constitutional.

"This Court rejects the proposition that requiring indirect financial support of a practice, from which plaintiff himself abstains according to his religious principles, constitutes a substantial burden on plaintiff's religious exercise," Jackson wrote in the decision. She noted that "plaintiffs remain free to exercise their religion, by not using contraceptives and by discouraging employees from using contraceptives."

O'Brien Industrial Holdings claims on its website that it follows the Ten Commandments and that "we will not discriminate based on anyone's personal belief system."

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