Court: Notre Dame must offer birth control for now

A federal appeals court has ruled that the University of Notre Dame must provide birth control to its employees and students, deciding that the school "has not yet shown that there is a substantial burden" in complying with the healthcare reform law's requirement that insurance plans include coverage of birth control and other contraceptive methods, The Hill's Healthwatch reported. In its decision, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago denied Notre Dame's request for a temporary exception to complying with the Affordable Care Act's birth control mandate while the school continues to challenge the provision in court. "If the government is entitled to require that female contraceptives be provided to women free of charge, we have trouble understanding how signing the form that declares Notre Dame's authorized refusal to pay for contraceptives for its students or staff, and mailing the authorization document to those (insurance) companies, which under federal law are obligated to pick up the tab, could be thought to 'trigger' the provision of female contraceptives," Judge Richard Posner wrote in the majority opinion of the court. Article