A federal judge in Pittsburgh has ruled that, at least for the time being, two for-profit companies whose owners have strong Catholic beliefs are exempt from complying with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’s mandate that employers must provide coverage for abortifacient products and contraceptives, sterilization procedures and reproductive education and counseling for women.
In a 24-page opinion issued Friday in Geneva College v. Sebelius, U.S. District Judge Joy Flowers Conti of the Western District of Pennsylvania granted a motion for preliminary injunction filed by plaintiffs Wayne L. Hepler and Carrie E. Kolesar and their companies WLH Enterprises and Seneca Hardwood Lumber Company Inc., in which they argued that forcing them to provide such coverage violated Section 2000bb-1 of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, as well as the free-exercise clause of the First Amendment.
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