US Catholics sue Obama over contraceptive rule

More than 40 US Catholic groups have filed lawsuits against the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama over its mandate that requires religious organizations to include the cost of birth control to their employees’ health insurance, The Chicago Tribune reported on Tuesday. A total of 43 Roman Catholic organizations, including archdioceses and Catholic universities in eight states, filed on Monday a class action suit against the U.S. Departments of Labor, Treasury, and Health and Human Services which had obliged employers, including religious organizations, to provide health insurance coverage for surgical sterilization, prescription contraceptives, and drugs that cause early stage abortions. The lawsuit states that abortion, sterilization and contraception are "contrary to core Catholic doctrine," The Chicago Tribune said. "This lawsuit is about an unprecedented attack by the federal government on one of America's most cherished freedoms: the freedom to practice one's religion without government interference," The Chicago Tribune quoted Springfield Bishop Thomas Paprocki, a trained lawyer and former auxiliary bishop in Chicago, as saying. The original rule that was announced by Obama in January exempts houses of worship from covering their employees’ birth control costs, but keeps the rule in force for religiously affiliated charities. In response to the growing criticism of the mandate, Obama pledged to smooth the rule, making insurers pay for birth control instead of religious groups. The religious activists however have said that the move was not enough.