The rights of religious employers are not violated by provisions of the Affordable Care Act that require them to provide contraceptive coverage through third parties, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled Friday.
Reversing Eastern District Judge Brian Cogan, a three-judge panel held the third-party insurance coverage regulations—an accommodation to nonprofits that had objected to the contraception mandate in President Obama’s health care plan—do not, in and of themselves, substantially burden the religious exercise of affiliates of the Catholic Church in New York in violation of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA).
