The organisation behind the world’s largest pro-life rally has won the right not to fund abortion for its employees.
The March for Life Education and Defense Fund objected to the US Government’s mandatory abortion pill provision, which forces employers to provide insurance coverage for abortion drugs and contraception or face steep financial penalties.
At the end of August, a federal court ruled that the group should not be forced to act contrary to its pro-life beliefs.
Mission
The ruling is the first granted to an organisation because of its moral convictions rather than religious beliefs, according to its legal team.
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which represented March for Life, hailed the decision as a victory for common sense.
“Pro-life organizations should not be forced into betraying the very values they were established to advance”.
“This is especially true of March for Life, which was founded to uphold life, not to assist in taking it. The Government has no right to demand that organizations provide health insurance plan options that explicitly contradict their mission.”
Delighted
The president of March for Life, Jeanne Mancini, issued a statement after the ruling:
“We are delighted that the court has ruled in our favor on this crucially important case”.
“The Government should not be allowed to force organizations like the March for Life to have health insurance with drugs and devices that can cause an abortion”, she added.
Injunction
In July, the world’s largest privately owned publisher of Christian material also won its case against the abortion pill mandate.
Tyndale House Publishers, based in Illinois, argued that it should not be forced to operate against its convictions.
A federal district court issued a permanent injunction in favour of the publisher.