PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania, November 3, 2016 (LifeSiteNews)–Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) is delivering oral arguments in federal court today on behalf of a pro-life organization that is fighting the Obama administration’s abortion-pill mandate.
The pro-life organization is Real Alternatives, whose mission is “to provide life-affirming pregnancy and parenting support services throughout the nation.” Real Alternatives is fighting the Obama administration’s mandate that it provide abortion-inducing drugs, sterilization, and contraception in contradiction to its very reason for existence.
Real Alternatives provides women with “free, caring and completely confidential pregnancy and parenting support services” that affirm life rather than promote abortion. Failing to comply with the mandate means Real Alternatives would face crippling financial penalties from the IRS.
“Pro-life organizations should be free to operate according to the values they sincerely believe and practice,” said ADF Senior Counsel Matt Bowman. “Real Alternatives was founded to provide real help and hope to pregnant women and to oppose the tragedy of abortion—the very thing the government is forcing the organization to provide through its health insurance plan. The government cannot selectively punish organizations that simply wish to abide by their deepest convictions.”
According to ADF, the abortion-pill mandate has lost 81 times in court and won only three times. Forty-six for-profit organizations, 34 religious non-profits, and one non-religious non-profit have all scored victories against the conscience-violating mandate.
In June, the Supreme Court punted Zubik v. Burwell, the landmark Little Sisters of the Poor case, back to the lower courts. The Supreme Court ordered the government to work with the religious groups to find a solution that protects religious freedom while still allowing the government to provide abortifacients, contraceptives, and sterilization to women without a co-pay.