WASHINGTON, DC, July 30, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Mitt Romney and other political and religious leaders are celebrating the Friday court ruling that gave a temporary injunction against the HHS birth control mandate to a Catholic family business.
“Freedom of conscience has won an important victory,” Romney said Friday. “Today’s injunction preventing the federal government from forcing one family business from having to choose between keeping its doors open and violating its faith is a step in the right direction.”
Senior Judge John L. Kane of the U.S. District of Colorado ruled on Friday that the HHS mandate violated the constitutional and statutory rights of the Newland family, a Catholic family in Denver.
The Newlands own Hercules Industries, a heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) manufacturer. In the ruling, the Newland family was exempted from providing no-cost contraception, sterilization, or abortifacient medicines in its employees’ health care plans.
Bill Donohue, President of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, said the ruling “means that the Obama administration not only has to contend with Catholic non-profits who object to providing immoral services in their healthcare plans, they must deal with Catholics in the private sector who similarly object. By invoking the Freedom Restoration Act and the First Amendment religious liberty guarantees, the plaintiffs broke new ground for private employers.”
“It is only a step, not the end of the struggle,” Romney said. “We must ensure that the same freedom to live according to one’s faith is available to all Americans.”
David French of Evangelicals for Mitt said, “If Obama is re-elected, the legal battles over the HHS mandate will drag on for year after year, with dozens and perhaps hundreds of challenges filed. If Mitt Romney is elected, the HHS mandate will be wiped away, and Americans will once again have the right to live according to the dictates of their conscience.”
“Elections matter, and if we want to avoid a long, exhausting, and divisive fight over freedom of conscience and Obamacare, we should elect a President who will protect religious liberty,” said French, who is also Senior Counsel at the American Center for Law and Justice.
Father Frank Pavone of Priests for Life issued a press release saying, “This decision marks the beginning of the end of the unjust and unconstitutional HHS mandate. Even though the Aug. 1 deadline for compliance is still in effect for organizations like Priests for Life, it’s good news that the suit filed by the owners of Hercules Industries has been successful in holding off, at least temporarily, this mandate that is so clearly a violation of the religious freedom guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and the laws of our country. This gives us reason to be optimistic as our own lawsuit progresses.”
“The time to revolt is now,” Bill Donohue tells Catholic businesses.
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