Court Nixes Faith Groups' HHS Mandate Victories

A federal appeals court has reversed lower-court victories that had been won by three religious organizations in Pennsylvania over Obamacare's birth control mandate.

The Catholic dioceses in Pittsburgh and Erie, and a private Christian college called Geneva College, were granted temporary relief from the mandate last summer.

All three groups had sued on grounds that the mandate violates their religious beliefs. Geneva's objection was more narrowly tailored to contraceptive coverage that violates its teachings on abortion.

But a panel of three judges on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled this week that the mandate places "no substantial burden" on the religious groups.

The groups can either appeal to the entire 3rd Circuit, or to the U.S. Supreme Court.