The Supreme Court will hear a second challenge to the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive mandate on Wednesday in a case called Zubik v. Burwell. The plaintiffs want to extend the 2014 ruling in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, which recognized the right of certain for-profit companies to a religious exemption from the act’s requirement that employers’ health plans provide contraceptive coverage.
This time, the objection comes from a handful of religious nonprofits that argue that the government’s religious exemption itself infringes on their religious freedom. The groups contend that filling out a one-page form or sending a letter to the government to get the exemption amounts to “facilitation of sin” because it starts a process that ultimately allows employees to get contraception though a third party.
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