Fr. Frank Pavone: We Will Obey God Rather Than Men. We Will Not Obey the HHS Mandate

The judge's decision today is a complete contradiction to Judge Cogan's decision of just a few days ago in New York for organizations situated similarly to us and using exactly the same arguments. The New York decision recognized that the religious nonprofits were being forced to cooperate with evil.Our judge, instead, claims that we are not being forced to cooperate with evil. Our judge's decision is wrong, and we are confident of victory in our appeal. Meanwhile, injunction or not, we will absolutely not obey, cooperate with, or tolerate in any way this unjust mandate. As Scripture says, we will obey God rather than men.(Fr Frank Pavone)

NEW YORK, NY (Priests for Life) - Father Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, issued the following statement on Thursday, December 19, 2013, after learning that Priests for Life's lawsuit against the HHS contraception mandate was dismissed by a judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia:

"Today, the judge in our case in District Court in Washington D.C. ruled against us regarding the HHS mandate. Because the mandate would go into effect for us on January 1, we filed, within an hour of the judge's decision, an emergency request with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. circuit, to provide an injunction to maintain the status quo, protecting us from the mandate until our appeal to the same court can be heard and decided.

"The judge's decision today is a complete contradiction to Judge Cogan's decision of just a few days ago in New York for organizations situated similarly to us and using exactly the same arguments.

"The New York decision recognized that the religious nonprofits were being forced to cooperate with evil.Our judge, instead, claims that we are not being forced to cooperate with evil. Our judge's decision is wrong, and we are confident of victory in our appeal.

"Meanwhile, injunction or not, we will absolutely not obey, cooperate with, or tolerate in any way this unjust mandate. As Scripture says, we will obey God rather than men."

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Priests for Life is the nation's largest Catholic pro-life organization dedicated to ending abortion and euthanasia. For more information, visit www.priestsforlife.org.