New HHS rule to expand religious protections in Obamacare abortion-pill mandate
The following quote may be attributed to Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Gregory S. Baylor regarding a new rule that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under the Trump administration plans to issue that will expand religious protections in the Obama administration’s abortion-pill mandate. That mandate forces many employers, regardless of their religious or moral convictions, to provide abortion-inducing drugs, sterilization, and contraception under threat of heavy penalties by the Internal Revenue Service and other federal agencies if the mandate’s requirements aren’t met.“Americans should always have the freedom to peacefully operate according to their beliefs without fear of severe penalties by the government. The proposed HHS regulation regarding the Obamacare abortion-pill mandate would, if made final, protect conscientiously objecting employers from having to choose between paying crippling fines or providing morally objectionable abortion-inducing drugs, sterilization, or contraception. The government has put forward a common-sense solution that ensures that Americans won’t be forced to violate their deepest convictions while maintaining multiple ways for people to obtain the drugs in question if they want them. We commend President Trump and his administration for taking quick action to demonstrate their resolve to make religious liberty a first priority.”
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.