Religion & American Law

The Affordable Healthcare for America Act, enacted in 2009 under the Barack Obama administration seeks to provide fair and comprehensive healthcare to all Americans. One of the provisions in the bill is that businesses must include coverage for contraception, abortion, sterilization, and abortifacients in the healthcare packages they offer to their employees. However, the Catholic Church and other religious groups are fundamentally opposed to these practices and have spoken out against the bill. Thus the debate begins over whether or not these groups are allowed to exempt themselves from providing coverage for what they see as an affront to their religious practices and free exercise thereof.

On September 4^th, Catholic based Barron Industries filed a lawsuit against Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius alleging that the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive coverage mandate violates their first amendment rights. More specifically, the plaintiffs find contraception use, abortion, and sterilization fundamentally immoral and wish to exclude said practices from the healthcare packages they offer to their employees.

 

Founded in 1923, Barron Industries is a fabrication and assembly plant located in Oxford Michigan, employing 56 full-time employees. Family values and a devout catholic foundation are core values practiced by both the machining plants owners, Paul and Bruce Barron, but also instilled in the plants workers. The company performs a catholic mass in their conference room regularly, and their workers are all strongly encouraged to attend. Their website goes on to state: “Our Guiding Principle is our faith in God… It is our collective goal to use our work, professional and personal lives to lead each other to eternal salvation”. The company feels as though the contraception mandate encroaches on these values. Additionally the company supports a multitude of catholic and pro-life organizations, further cementing the veracity of their Christian background.

The plaintiffs argue that the affordable care act is not neutral, as it exempts certain groups, both religious and secular, from offering contraceptive practices, but not others. Because Barron Industries is a business, they fall into the latter category. However, since their business practices are steeped in a religious foundation, they too believe they should qualify for an exemption. This creates the question of what constitutes a religious group? Since Barron Industries is 100% privately owned they hold the right to be religiously based. Yet, does that give them the right to tailor their employees’ healthcare packages to their beliefs? 

I think not. On June 28^th, the Department of Health and Human Services (HSS) stated that the exemption is limited to religious and non-profit organizations, but not businesses.  Although religiously based, Barron Industries must operate as an equal opportunity employer and therefore must accommodate non-Catholic employees who may see the exemption as a violation of their own 1^stamendment rights. Ultimately I think that if Barron Industries, as a business, receives an exemption they would be discriminating against their current and future employees, whether or not they were practicing Christians. A business must act, in my eyes, as a neutral entity. Religious non-profits and churches involve a group of like-minded individuals coming together for a unified purpose. Being a machinist and a devout catholic are not necessarily mutually inclusive and Barron Industries should provide contraception coverage regardless. Furthermore, just because they are offering the coverage does not mean that their employees have to take advantage of it. Thus I feel that it is a moot point when arguing that this provision itself infringes on the free exercise of their religion or that it causes significant harm to any one party. 

In a similar case, the Catholic Health Association (CHA) was at odds with the HHS over having to extend birth control to its employees. As of July however, the CHA has reversed its position and no longer opposes the mandate. Moreover, additional cases such as this have continually challenged the mandate and the debate over its constitutionality does not appear to end any time soon.  What defines a religious group? Does Barron Industries deserve an exemption?

A link to the lawsuit in full can be found here.