Family, Freedom, and Life News From Washington D.C.

News coming out of Washington D.C. signals a new era for the fundamental values of Family, Freedom and Life.

Relief From The Obamacare Contraception Mandate

On Friday October 6th, the Trump Administration issued interim final rules that rolled back Obamacare’s contraception mandate for religious objectors. The original guidelines require coverage of all FDA-approved contraceptive methods and sterilization procedures which included certain abortion-inducing drugs. The new rules provide legal relief for religious employers and institutions, as well as other organizations with moral convictions on the issue.

New Religious Freedom Guidelines for Federal Government

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions followed through on President Trump’s May 4 executive order on religious liberty by issuing new guidelines on how the federal government interprets and protects the First Amendment right to “free exercise of religion.” The new guidelines reaffirm that religious liberty is not just the freedom to “worship in a sacred place,” but that it encompasses religious observance and practice” in the public arena and that Americans do not forfeit their religious liberty when they own a business.

The guidelines restrict enforcement of the “Johnson Amendment,” reaffirm specific protections to both employees of faith and religious employers who have certain constitutional and statutory protections for religious hiring decisions, and further protect religious organizations from being denied federal grants or contracts unless they meet certain hiring practices inconsistent with their faith.

DHHS Defines Life as Beginning at Conception

The Department of Health and Human Services published a draft strategic plan for 2018-2022. Included in their mission statement is “serving and protecting Americans at every state of life, beginning at conception until natural death.” According to The Hill,

“It’s a major shift from the Obama administration, which had similar language in its HHS strategic plan but did not include the “beginning at conception” phrase. But the change is in line with the anti-abortion stance of the Trump administration.”

Federal Court Upholds Prayer in Congress

Recently, a D.C. Circuit Court Judge ruled Congress can continue to open in prayer and choose who is allowed to lead the prayer, after the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) challenged the tradition. FFRF Co-president Daniel Barker brought the suit after he was not permitted to give an opening invocation.

In a Press Release following the decision, Speaker Paul Ryan stated:

“Since the first session of the Continental Congress, our nation’s legislature has opened with a prayer to God. Today, that tradition was upheld and the freedom to exercise religion was vindicated. The court rightfully dismissed the claims of an atheist that he had the right to deliver a secular invocation in place of the opening prayer. Recently, especially following the return of Majority Whip Steve Scalise, this institution has been reminded about the power of prayer. I commend the District Court for its decision, and I am grateful that the People’s House can continue to begin its work each day as we have for centuries: taking a moment to pray to God.”