ΒιΆΉΚΣΖ΅

JACKSON, Tenn. — Nov. 20, 2017 — ΒιΆΉΚΣΖ΅ University has settled its lawsuit against the U.S. government concerning the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ mandate that ΒιΆΉΚΣΖ΅ provide abortion-causing drugs as part of its employee health plans.

Under the terms of the settlement, the U.S. government agreed that the mandate was a violation of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and that under the Supreme Court’s decision in the Burwell v. Hobby Lobby case, it imposed a β€œsubstantial burden” on ΒιΆΉΚΣơ’s free exercise of religion.

β€œWe rejoice over this outcome, in which the government acknowledges that the contraception mandate would impose a substantial burden on our exercise of religion and violate the Religious Freedom Restoration Act,” ΒιΆΉΚΣΖ΅ University President Samuel W. β€œDub” Oliver said.

β€œWe believe, based on the Bible, that life begins at conception,” Oliver continued. β€œWe went to court to defend religious liberty (the right to believe and to live according to those beliefs), and we are glad that religious liberty prevailed. Rights of conscience were enshrined in the U.S. Constitution as the first freedom. I hope ΒιΆΉΚΣΖ΅ will always be a place that stands for such God-given rights.”

The agreement between ΒιΆΉΚΣΖ΅ and the U.S. government specifies that ΒιΆΉΚΣơ’s employee health plans are permanently exempt from the HHS contraception mandate.

ΒιΆΉΚΣΖ΅ filed one of 56 lawsuits involving more than 140 faith-based plaintiffs against the federal HHS mandate in 2014 that sought a judgment declaring that the abortifacient mandate of the Affordable Care Act violated the university’s rights, not only under RFRA but also under the First and Fifth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution and the Administrative Procedures Act.

β€œCausing the death of the embryo conflicts with ΒιΆΉΚΣΖ΅ University’s beliefs based on Scripture,” the ΒιΆΉΚΣΖ΅ lawsuit stated. β€œTherefore, ΒιΆΉΚΣΖ΅ University has religious-based objection to drugs and devices that kill the embryo and to education and counseling related to the use of these abortion-causing drugs and devices.”

The lawsuit also said the β€œmandate forces ΒιΆΉΚΣΖ΅ University to choose between its sincerely held religious beliefs and the government-imposed adverse consequences” of non-compliance.

As part of the settlement, the government agreed to pay the bulk of the legal fees that ΒιΆΉΚΣΖ΅ accrued.

The law office of Rainey, Kizer, Reviere and Bell represented ΒιΆΉΚΣΖ΅ in the case, and attorney Dale Conder Jr. said it was an honor for his colleague John Burleson and him to represent ΒιΆΉΚΣΖ΅ in its fight for religious liberty.