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MOBILE, Ala. (AP) — A Catholic broadcaster is asking for a U.S. Supreme Court injunction as it pursues a lawsuit against requiring employers to include contraception in their health care coverage.
A federal judge dismissed the suit filed by the Eternal Word Television Network, which has studios in a Birmingham suburb, on June 18.
The network is planning an appeal, but says it needs a Supreme Court injunction before a July 1 deadline for complying with the national health care law. The filing states that the network would either face high fines or be forced to provide benefits that don't match its religious beliefs without an injunction.
Network chairman Michael Warsaw said the broadcaster also is asking that the Supreme Court take up the case directly.
"We believe that the issues at stake are deserving of direct consideration by the highest court of the land," Warsaw said in a statement.
Dozens of church-related organizations have filed suit over the law across the country. Like those groups, EWTN contends the government is violating its rights by requiring employers to provide health care coverage that includes contraception. The broadcaster argues that medications resulting in abortion and procedures such as sterilization violate tenets of the Roman Catholic Church.
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments earlier this year in a case involving the law's contraception provisions, but has not yet ruled.
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