The US Court of Appeals has denied a religious college’s request to bar the 
government from enforcing the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that insurance plans cover the cost of all legal forms of contraception.
Wheaton College, a nondenominational evangelical Christian college in Illinois, had sought an injunction that would have the effect of blocking coverage for interuterine devices (IUDs) and medications that prevent a fertilized ovum from implanting in the uterine wall. It did not object to what it called “traditional” contraceptives that prevent fertilization of an egg.
The ACA allows employers with religious objections to contraception coverage to “opt out” of including it in their health plans. However, they must inform their insurance providers, who then directly contact individuals in the affected group and offer them this coverage directly, at no cost to the insureds.
The college said the ACA’s requirement conflicted with Wheaton’s “Community Covenant,” which calls upon students and employees to “uphold the God-given worth of human beings, from conception to death.”
The school had argued that the ACA infringed on its religious rights, in violation of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the First Amendment by making it “complicit” in the provision of emergency contraception coverage to its students and employees.
The Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit denied the school’s request for the injunction based on the ACA’s “opt out” provision. Requiring the school to inform its insurance carrier is not an unreasonable burden, it said, nor does it “take over Wheaton’s health plans, as Wheaton contends.”
There is no conflict between the ACA and the beliefs embodied in Wheaton’s “Community Covenant,” which implicitly bars emergency contraception measures, the court said. It added that anyone adhering to the Covenant would not make use of these measures, so they are not affected.
The court noted that none of the 20 forms of contraception approved by the FDA abort a viable embryo. All prevent fertilization of an egg or prevent a fertilized egg from implanting in the wall of the uterus. The government defines pregnancy as beginning with implantation of an egg, while in Wheaton’s view, pregnancy begins when the egg is fertilized.
The court said students and employees who do not interpret the Covenant the same way as Wheaton, and dependent members of the college community who do not have to sign the Covenant, should not be restricted from accessing forms of contraception to which the school objects.
Wheaton additionally argued that it should be treated like a “religious employer,” which the ACA allows to exclude contraception coverage without having to notify their insurers. But the court noted that Wheaton does not claim to be a church.
The court also rejected the school’s claim that forcing it to notify its insurer that it is opting out of contraceptive coverage violates its First Amendment rights. The court said the requirement is no different from requiring a tax protestor to file a 1099 form, or a conscientious objector to identify himself or herself as such.
While denying the school’s request for a preliminary injunction, the appellate court’s ruling does not prevent Wheaton from continuing to pursue its case in federal court.
