No One Should Be Compelled to Facilitate Abortion Drugs, the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons Tells the Supreme Court.

TUCSON, Ariz., Jan. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Obama Administration has gone far beyond the bounds of a civilized society in attempting to compel the Little Sisters of the Poor and others to facilitate abortion-inducing drugs, argues the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons. AAPS filed an amicus brief before the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday in strong support of the religious liberty of organizations and individuals to refuse to "sign off" on the mandate for abortifacients, as imposed under the Contraceptive Mandate of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act ("ACA" or "ObamaCare").

"Our government today should not be doing anything analogous to what King Henry VIII did to Sir Thomas More 480 years ago, by forcing men and women to violate their conscience in subservience to the sovereign," observes AAPS executive director Jane M. Orient, M.D. "We have a tradition of liberty in our Nation that needs to be respected now as much as it was in 1776," she added.

The Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) should have been construed by the lower courts to protect individuals and organizations against being forced to facilitate "contraceptives" that actually may cause abortion, as the regulation by the Obama Administration requires.

"By mandating coverage for life-ending drugs and devices, including the abortion-inducing drug ella, HHS exceeded its discretion," writes AAPS in its amicus brief in Zubik v. Burwell. "The statutory language of Section 2713(a)(4) of the ACA, which requires private insurance plans to cover certain preventive services, does not require the inclusion of any 'contraception' as a covered service," AAPS added.

It was particularly unjustified for lower courts to deny rights to religious non-profit organizations after the U.S. Supreme Court recognized similar rights of the owners of closely held, for-profit corporations in its Hobby Lobby decision. Government should respect objections by all to health plans that facilitate the destruction of human life in its embryonic stage.

The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) is a national organization representing physicians in all specialties, founded in 1943 to preserve private medicine and the patient-physician relationship.

SOURCE Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS)

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