The University of Notre Dame on Tuesday re-filed a lawsuit against the Obama administration challenging the contraception mandate in the Affordable Care Act.
“Our abiding concern in both the original filing…and this re-filing has been Notre Dame’s freedom – and indeed the freedom of many religious organizations in this country – to live out a religious mission,” Notre Dame president John Jenkins said in a statement, according to the Hill. “We have sought neither to prevent women from having access to services, nor to prevent the government from providing them.”
The university’s initial filing was dismissed in January because the school would not be subject to that regulation in the law. The White House said that at religious schools, birth control would be provided to employees directly by insurers. Notre Dame self-insures its employees, however, and the Department of Health and Human services has yet to complete a workaround for the school.
Jenkins said that the administration’s efforts so far are not enough.
“We have concluded, however, the government’s accommodations would require us to forfeit our rights, to facilitate and become entangled in a program inconsistent with Catholic teaching, and to create the impression that the University cooperates with and condones activities incompatible with its mission,” he said.
The Supreme Court announced last week that it would take up two cases challening the birth control mandate.
