Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. United States Department of Health and Human Services
Description: On the same day that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued its final interim rule protecting nonprofit religious and pro-life organizations from the Obama-era abortion-pill mandate, the commonwealth of Massachusetts filed suit to challenge the rule. The mandate forces employers, regardless of their moral convictions, to provide insurance coverage for abortion-inducing drugs under threat of heavy financial penalties.
Court says Mass. can't sue to obligate pro-life orgs to abortion-pill mandate
The following quote may be attributed to Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Gregory S. Baylor regarding a federal district court’s decision Monday in Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. United States Department of Health and Human Services that found Massachusetts isn’t able to sue to challenge recent HHS rules that exempt pro-life organizations from the Affordable Care Act’s abortion-pill mandate:“All Americans should have the freedom to peacefully live and work consistently with their deeply held convictions without fear of government punishment. The HHS rules follow the Constitution, federal law, and legal precedents to protect freedom of religion and conscience. Because the court determined that Massachusetts doesn’t have a sufficient legal basis for filing suit to challenge the rules, it refused to strike down rules protecting the freedom of pro-life organizations, like March for Life, and religious educational institutions, like Dordt College, to pursue their respective missions.”
Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys and Andrew D. Beckwith of the Massachusetts Family Institute filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the court on behalf of March for Life and Dordt College in support of the current administration’s HHS rules.
Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization that advocates for the right of people to freely live out their faith.
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ABOUT Gregory S. Baylor
Gregory S. Baylor serves as senior counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom, where he is the director of the Center for Religious Schools and senior counsel with the Center for Public Policy. Since joining ADF in 2009, Baylor has focused on defending and advancing the religious freedom of faith-based educational institutions through advice, education, legislative and public advocacy, and representation in disputes. He has testified about religious liberty issues three times before congressional committees. Greg earned his Juris Doctor in 1990 from Duke University School of Law, where he graduated Order of the Coif, with high honors, and served on the editorial board of the Duke Law Journal. He received his bachelor’s degree in Honors English in 1987 from Dartmouth College. Following graduation from law school, he served as law clerk to the Hon. Jerry E. Smith on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit. He practiced labor and employment law at two large international law firms for three years before joining the staff of Christian Legal Society’s Center for Law and Religious Freedom, where he served for 15 years prior to joining ADF.