NEW ORLEANS — East Texas Baptist University (ETBU) in Marshall, Texas, and several other religious groups who challenged the Affordable Care Act’s contraception requirement are still in limbo because of a Justice Department appeal.
On April 24 the Justice Department asked the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to pause its 2015 ruling in favor of ETBU and others who had requested exemption from the conception requirement. Those groups had objected to the act’s mandated coverage of contraceptives and abortion-inducing drugs for employees, according to the National Catholic Reporter.
In May 2016 the U.S. Supreme Court sent the cases against the mandate back to lower courts. Then in early 2017 religious groups hoped they would get a reprieve from the newly installed President Donald Trump’s administration. So far, that hasn’t happened, according to the Reporter.
ETBU and others have asked the Justice Department to drop the appeal. (TAB)
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