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HHS mandate 'accommodation' for non-profits still inadequate

Tuesday, Oct 28, 2014
The following quote may be attributed to Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Gregory S. Baylor regarding the Obama administration’s abortion-pill mandate. The Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and the Treasury issued new rules that provide an additional way faith-based non-profits can invoke the so-called “accommodation.” Under the ‘accommodation,’ beneficiaries of the insurance plans can still access religiously objectionable drugs, devices, and counseling through their employer-provided health insurance. The government also recently proposed a rule making the same “accommodation” available to closely-held for-profit businesses that object to the mandate.  

“The government should not force organizations to violate their religious convictions by providing abortion pills to their employees or students. The administration has once again failed to extend its existing religious exemption to all organizations with sincere religious objections to the mandate. That would have been the best way of respecting freedom for everyone.”
 

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 for government affairs. 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.