Supreme Court’s Review Sought Regarding Non-Profit Religious Organizations’ Rights To Deny Contraceptive Insurance Coverage

Posted by Donna Craig in Jan, 2015

In 2014 the United States Supreme Court ruled in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby (U.S., June 30, 2104), that the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive mandate violated the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (“RFRA”), meaning that religious for-profit organizations are not required to provide insurance coverage for contraceptives.  The Supreme Court clearly ruled that the exercise of religion is extended to corporations.  Currently the Michigan Catholic Conference and other nonprofit religious organizations are now asking the Supreme Court to address a question not addressed in the Hobby Lobby case; whether nonprofit organizations are required to provide their employees with health care coverage for abortion-inducing products, contraception and sterilization, without running afoul of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA).