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PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania, August 16, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) — The Diocese of Pittsburgh blasted the Obama administration’s “aggressive interpretation” of the Supreme Court’s ruling ordering it to work with religious employers to find a solution that provides women with free contraceptives while not requiring the employers to take any active role in it.
The Diocese of Pittsburgh’s Bishop David Zubik was one of the plaintiffs in Zubik v. Burwell, the case brought before the Supreme Court over whether the government can legally force the Little Sisters of the Poor and other religious employers to formally participate in insurance companies’ provision of contraceptives and life-ending drugs and devices.
In May, the Supreme Court punted the case back to U.S. Appeals Courts and ordered the government and plaintiffs to find a way to both achieve their goals. It also protected the religious employers from government fines for refusing to participate in the provision of contraception.
“The government has been slow to offer anything of substance to pursue a negotiated solution, except to mention its openness to future meetings,” the diocese said in a statement on its website. “Meanwhile, we are aware that the government has made an extremely aggressive interpretation of the Court's order in the Zubik case and is apparently trying to take over — to force our third-party administrators to include the objectionable coverage in our self-insured plans.”
The diocese called this as “an erroneous reading of what the Supreme Court said” and added that third party administrators have “no obligation or authority … to provide the objectionable coverage” because the diocese is self-insured.
“The Supreme Court also made clear that we cannot be fined or penalized for refusing to comply with the government's current regulations,” the statement continued. “Therefore, we believe the government’s position is wrong. In order to avoid future litigation, we will try to work through these issues with our insurers, third-party administrators and the government.”
The diocese remains “in prayer for a mutually agreeable resolution” and its legal counsel is “actively working” to resolve the issue.