House Speaker Paul Ryan on Tuesday framed a pending Supreme Court battle over Obamacare’s birth control mandate as a fight over religious liberty.
“There are other ways to protect people’s health that do not violate their faith,” Ryan said on the House floor Tuesday.
Ryan was speaking about the case Zubik v. Burwell, which will be heard by the Supreme Court on Wednesday. The case involves more than 30 religious nonprofits, such as charities and universities, that object to Obamacare’s birth control mandate.
Obamacare requires insurers and employers provide birth control alongside other preventive measures. The administration offered religious groups that object to birth control a compromise where the insurer covers the cost of birth control to the employee.
But the groups charge that they still are complicit in providing the coverage and want an exemption, which means none of their employees would receive birth control.
Ryan said that the administration’s challenge is a direct violation of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, which works to protect free exercise of religion.
“The administration claims to have offered them an accommodation, but it is just a fig leaf,” Ryan said.
A decision in the case is expected in June.
