5th Circuit Overturns Birth Control Ruling: Houston Baptist University Must Provide Contraceptives

Originally published by Leah Newman.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that a Houston university must allow female employees to access a full range of contraception options, despite the fact that officials at the school call some of these options “morally objectionable.”

The three-judge panel overturned a previous ruling that allowed Houston Baptist University to withhold some contraceptive methods from female employees. In the decision, the panel of judges stated that the federal law, which grants free access to a number of birth control methods, does not hinder the individual’s exercise of religion in any substantial way. The decision came after a lower court had ruled in favor of the Christian university earlier this year.

The Houston Case

The case, originally filed by Houston Baptist University but later joined by fellow Texas institutions Westminster Theological Seminary and East Texas Baptist University, claimed that the regulations set out by the Affordable Care Act and enforced by the U.S. Department of Health violate religious rights by forcing these organizations to provide forms of contraception that are not supported by their Christian beliefs according to the Houston Chronicle.

In the filing, the universities argued that their religion supports life beginning at the moment of fertilization. Since both intrauterine devices and morning after pills may work by preventing the implantation of an ovum that has already been fertilized, officials from the school claim this is akin to abortion.

The Affordable Care Act regulations allow these universities, as well as any other objecting institution, to opt out of the program that provides free birth control. When this occurs, the employee’s insurer or a third-party administrator is required to provide the contraception free of charge. This includes all forms of contraception that have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, almost two dozen in all.

In the lawsuit, the schools claimed that exempting out of the program would still result in the use of the contested contraception methods. While this is probably true, the panel of judges ruled that the universities would not be responsible for their use at that point, and had no say in what employees choose to do.

A Public Divided: Torn Decisions in Similar Cases

This case was just one of many that have been filed across the country, pitting the birth control provisions of the Affordable Care Act against the religious beliefs of people and organizations who are in a position to provide benefits to employees. In most of these suits, the organization or corporation leaders object to providing female employees with comprehensive health care plans that cover the cost of intrauterine devices or morning-after pills. These contraceptive methods, they say, work by causing the woman to abort a fertilized egg. Some scientists have disputed this, saying no fetus ever develops when either of these methods are used.

There have, thus far, been torn decisions in these cases. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2014 that closely held private corporations are exempt from the birth control provisions of the health care law if the owners have objections based on religious beliefs. However, since organizations such as Houston Baptist University are not closely held private corporations, no precedent has been set in this case on a national level.

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Courts in Chicago, Washington and Denver have agreed with the Supreme Court ruling, stating that the health care law may violate a religious nonprofit’s rights to practice its religion. Panels in Cincinnati and Philadelphia have agreed with the Houston decision, upholding the contraception provision of the ACA and forcing religious organizations to provide the full range of birth control options for female employees.

In one of the first of these suits to reach a decision, a Washington DC, a 2013 appeals court sided with two Catholic brothers who objected to providing employees access to controversial birth control methods (CNN). In the decision, the three-judge panel found that forcing these brothers to provide free contraception to female employees of their Ohio grocery store chain and related distribution company violated the owners’ religious rights.

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Other federal appeals courts, however, have agreed with the decision in the Houston case. A three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia ruled against the Catholic dioceses in Pittsburgh and Erie, Penn., as well as a Christian college in Beaver Falls, Penn (TribLive).

Just like the Houston case, these institutions were attempting to avoid being forced to sign a document that allowed them to opt out of providing the full range of birth control options to women who worked for them. If they signed the paperwork that confirmed they wanted to be exempted, the insurer would offer the women contraceptive methods that violated their religious beliefs, according to the suit.

According to the judgement of the case, written by Judge Marjorie O. Rendell, the religious rights of these institutions are not violated by signing the required documents to certify their moral objections to covering the cost of controversial contraception methods. And once this document has been signed, according to the decision handed down by this court, the burden of providing birth control then lies with the insurer.

Analysis: The Legal Battle Over Contraceptives Will Rage On

The Houston Baptist University case may not be over yet, despite the 5th Circuit panel’s recent decision. Eric Rassbach, lawyer for the schools, says his clients plan to appeal to the full 5th circuit court of appeals (HBU). There is also a chance, he said, that they will attempt to have the case picked up by the U.S. Supreme Court.

(Image Source: HBU Instagram)

The post 5th Circuit Overturns Birth Control Ruling: Houston Baptist University Must Provide Contraceptives appeared first on McDonald Worley P.C. Attorneys At Law.

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