On December 20, Robert J. Muise, Co-Founder and Senior Counsel of the American Freedom Law Center (AFLC), presented oral argument in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York in support of AFLC’s request that the court immediately halt the enforcement of the Obama administration’s “contraception” mandate.  The request for an injunction is part of AFLC’s federal lawsuit challenging the mandate, which was filed jointly with California civil rights attorney Charles S. LiMandri on behalf of Priests for Life, a national, Catholic, anti-abortion organization based in New York. 

The mandate, which was spearheaded by Kathleen Sebelius, the Director of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and championed by President Obama, forces religious-based employers to provide insurance plans that include coverage for contraception, sterilization, abortifacients, and related education and counseling.  The Obama administration has refused to provide a broad religious exemption that would protect the rights of people of faith who oppose such practices on religious grounds.