Bishops Express Dismay at Court Ruling Enjoining Moral and Religious
Exemption to HHS Mandate
January 15, 2019
WASHINGTON–In response to Monday’s federal
court ruling from Pennsylvania granting a nationwide injunction barring the
broadened moral and religious exemption to the HHS mandate, Cardinal Daniel N.
DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, President of the United States Conference of
Catholic Bishops (USCCB), Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City in
Kansas, Chairman of the USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities, and Archbishop
Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Chairman of the USCCB Committee for Religious
Liberty, issued the following statement:
“Yesterday’s court ruling freezing these
common-sense regulations leaves those with conscientious or religious
objections to the HHS mandate out in the cold. In a free country, no one
should be forced to facilitate or fund things like contraception,
sterilization, and abortion-inducing drugs and devices, which go against their
core beliefs. We pray that this decision will be appealed and that future
courts will respect the free exercise arguments of the Little Sisters of the
Poor and so many others who simply seek the freedom to serve their neighbors
without the threat of massive government fines hanging over their heads.”
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Keywords: Cardinal Daniel DiNardo,
Archbishop Joseph Naumann, Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, USCCB, U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services, HHS mandate, Little Sisters of the Poor,
abortion-inducing drugs, sterilization, contraception, religious liberty,
religious freedom, free exercise, freedom to serve
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