Iowa Christian college wins legal fight against Obamacare birth-control rule

A Christian college in northwest Iowa has won its legal fight against an Obamacare requirement that employers pay for all forms of birth control for their workers.

A federal judge ruled this week that requiring Dordt College to pay for certain types of contraception would violate the college’s religious beliefs. The ruling from Judge Mark Bennett granted a permanent injunction, which confirmed a temporary injunction he ordered in the case in 2014.

Bennett’s new ruling notes that the federal government was no longer contesting the case. President Donald Trump opposes Obamacare, formally called the Affordable Care Act. One of its most controversial requirements is that employers’ health insurance plans cover a wide range of birth control options for their workers.

Dordt College filed suit in 2013, contending the requirement would force the institution to pay for contraception methods it considers immoral. Such methods include the "morning-after pill" and intrauterine devices. Some anti-abortion activists consider IUDs a method of early abortion, saying they interfere with implantation of a fertilized egg. Birth-control proponents disagree.

Bennett’s 2014 ruling blocked the government from enforcing the Obamacare rule on Dordt, which is affiliated with the Christian Reformed Church. The Sioux Center school has about 1,400 students. It has 230 full-time faculty and staff, and its insurance plan covers more than 550 people, spokeswoman Sarah Moss said Thursday. She said the plan covers other types of contraception, though she didn't specify what kinds.

Judge Bennett's initial ruling was upheld by a federal appeals court in 2015. In 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to decide the dispute in similar legal cases.

Bennett’s new ruling says enforcing the birth-control requirement would violate Dordt’s rights under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, a 1993 law that limits the government's ability to infringe on people's exercise of religion.

Dordt spokeswoman Bethany Van Voorst said Thursday that the college was pleased the legal matter has been resolved. “Our concern is to provide care for our employees within the bounds of our understanding of biblical principles and ethics,” she wrote in an email to the Register. “As a religious institution, our primary concern was that the mandate went against our fundamental constitutional right to religious freedom. Dordt College deserves the same protection as other religious organizations.”

Bennett’s ruling also affects Cornerstone University, a Christian college in Grand Rapids, Michigan, that joined Dordt in its legal challenge.