7th Circuit Bars Enforcement of ACA Contraception/Abortion Coverage Requirement

The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit finds that closely held businesses cannot be required to provide contraception and abortion care for employees when doing so contravenes the religious beliefs of the owners. Go here for the actual decision on Becker.

Here is the key wording, identified by law Professor Glenn Harlan Reynolds (aka Instapundit):

We hold that the plaintiffs—the business owners and their companies—may challenge the mandate. We further hold that compelling them to cover these services substantially burdens their religious-exercise rights. Under RFRA the government must justify the burden under the standard of strict scrutiny. So far it has not done so, and we doubt that it can. Because the RFRA claims are very likely to succeed and the balance of harms favors protecting the religious-liberty rights of the plaintiffs, we reverse and remand with instructions to enter preliminary injunctions barring enforcement of the mandate against them.

That is a substantial loss for the Obama Administration. The RFRA referred to is the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993.