This is one of 12 cases filed on May 21, 2012 in federal district courts across the country by Catholic organizations challenging the contraception mandate provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Plaintiffs, two Roman Catholic, non-profit organizations, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio against the Federal Government under the First Amendment, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), and the Administrative Procedures Act (APA). Plaintiffs, represented by private counsel, asked the court to issue a preliminary and permanent injunction prohibiting enforcement of provisions of the ACA extending universal contraception coverage to employer-sponsored private health insurance coverage. Specifically, plaintiffs claim that providing, paying for, or facilitating access to such services is inconsistent with its religious beliefs and contend that compliance with the contraception requirement is a substantial burden on their religious exercise.

On March 22, 2013, the Court (Judge Algenon L. Marbley) granted the Federal Government's motion to dismiss for lack of ripeness. The court noted that the Federal Government had initiated a safe-harbor period while it refashioned the regulation. As a result, Plaintiffs could not show that it faced any penalty or restriction based on the existing regulatory requirement or that the harm alleged will ever occur. The court recognized that, in fact, harm to the plaintiffs was unlikely to occur because they would likely fall into the broadened definition of religious employer as put forth in the Advanced Notice of Proposed Rule Making (ANPRM).

Joshua Arocho - 05/22/2012
Richard Jolly - 03/30/2014


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