Fr. Frank Pavone President, Priests For Life |
The big news
yesterday afternoon was Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s emergency stay, blocking
implementation of the HHS Mandate for the Little Sisters of the Poor--but there have been other victories, too.
Also yesterday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for
the D.C. Circuit granted an emergency injunction to Priests For Life, so that the
organization will not have to cancel its health insurance for its employees.
Here is their press
release announcing the victory.
12/31/2013
|
|
|
|
|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WASHINGTON, D.C. --
4:58pm An emergency injunction granted just moments ago in the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit means that Priests for Life will not
have to obey the contraception mandate contained in the Affordable Care Act
as its appeal is being heard. It also means that, tomorrow, Priests for Life
will not have to cancel health insurance for its employees.
Father Frank Pavone,
National Director of Priests for Life, said he is grateful his organization
is free, temporarily at least, from having to comply with the unjust mandate
or face steep fines by failing to comply when the ministry’s new insurance
policy goes into effect on Wednesday.
“We would not have
complied with this mandate in any case, as it promotes the very culture of
death that Priests for Life works to combat,” Father Pavone said. “We are
grateful for this temporary relief and look forward to a permanent injunction
once the appeal is fully heard.”
“Our lawsuit was among
the very first ones in the country and the necessity to launch it shows that
religious freedom in America is in grave danger. We have to take
action.”
On Dec. 19, Priests
for Life learned that the judge in U.S. District Court for the District of
Columbia had ruled in favor of the government. Within an hour Priests for
Life filed for the emergency injunction that was granted today.
Father Pavone
said that what the Obama administration has tried to do through the HHS
mandate – which he called a “blatant act of tyranny” – is to give the federal
government the power to determine what is and what isn’t important in an
individual’s religion; that is not the government's role.
Father Pavone
concluded, “There have already been significant victories in the courts
against the HHS mandate, and we have no doubt that Priests for Life
ultimately will prevail in this historic fight.”
|
No comments:
Post a Comment