The Chicago Tribune reports, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments on whether requiring employers (as part of the reforms of the Affordable Care Act) to cover birth control as part of their health insurance plans would violate the First Amendment. The ACLU has filed amicus briefs in several cases, defending the anti-discrimination rule. While religious freedom gives us all the right to make personal decisions about how to practice religion, it doesn't give institutions or individuals the right to impose their beliefs on others or to discriminate.

But in an unexpected twist during a hearing on the merits of a preliminary injunction, the lawyer for the U.S. government argued that accommodating the business owners' religious beliefs could violate the First Amendment as well.

. . . Alisa Klein, an attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice, said allowing a company to impose a religious framework on a diverse workforce would amount to fostering or enabling religious practice.

“At bottom, the concern is about establishing religion,” Klein said.

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