Issues@Hand

AFA initiatives, Christian activism, news briefs

June 2019 – Dr. James Dobson and his Family Talk radio show and ministry won a more-than-five-year battle against the federal government. An Obama-era mandate in the Affordable Care Act forced most employers, by threat of heavy penalties, to provide abortion-inducing drugs, sterilization, and contraception through their health plans – regardless of religious or moral convictions.

Objecting specifically to abortifacients, Dobson challenged the legality and constitutionality of the mandate. On Tuesday, March 26, the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado issued an order that permanently prevents the federal government from enforcing the Affordable Care Act’s abortion-pill mandate against Dobson and his Family Talk ministry.

Furthermore, the order declares that the mandate violates the organization’s rights protected by the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

“If the government can fine religious ministries out of existence because they want to operate consistently with their faith, there’s no limit to what other freedoms it can take away,” said L. Martin Nussbaum, Family Talk’s lead counsel.

adfmedia.org, 3/28/19