Southern Nazarene University boasts a winning NCAA Division 2 basketball team, a 2,000-strong student body majoring in everything from business to theology, and an inviolable belief in the sanctity of life.
President Dr. Loren Gresham said it was the Oklahoma school’s “non-negotiable” pro-life stance that led him to join with three other Christian schools in the state to challenge a portion of the Affordable Care Act’s HHS mandate.
Specifically, the evangelical Christian school opposes the mandate’s demand that the school provide morning-after contraception; ella, a drug that can be taken up to five days after unprotected sex, and two types of intrauterine devices that prevent an embryo from implanting in the womb.
“We do provide contraception for our employees,” Dr. Gresham said. “We don’t provide pregnancy-ending drugs or devices.”
Southern Nazarene’s case is one of seven –including Priests for Life’s -- that will be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court this term, with oral arguments scheduled for March 23.
Southern Nazarene and the other schools – Oklahoma Wesleyan University, Oklahoma Baptist University and Mid-America Christian University - filed suit on Sept. 8, 2014, represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom. They appealed to the Supreme Court after losing a judgment in the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, a court Dr. Gresham described as “usually moderate.”
The president said his case is “essentially the same” as the Hobby Lobby case, decided by the Supreme Court in 2014. In that case, named for a chain of craft stores owned by a Christian family, the high court found that corporations with religious owners cannot be required to pay for insurance coverage of contraception.
Although Priests for Life objects to all contraception, abortifacient drugs and devices and sterilization services, the arguments in the Southern Nazarene case and Priests for Life’s are very similar: That the “accommodation” offered by the Obama administration is, according to the Southern Nazarene suit “a substitute form of compliance” with a mandate that violates the plaintiffs’ religious liberty.
“It’s a really important case for the nation,” Dr. Gresham said.
Southern Nazarene students are aware and supportive of the lawsuit, although the ruling will not directly impact them. But if the Supreme Court decides in favor of the mandate, Dr. Gresham said the school would have to decide between two options it would rather avoid: Ending health insurance for employees and providing stipends for them to purchase their own insurance, or refusing to comply with the mandate and facing fines of more than $11 million annually.
“We’ve given a little bit of thought to what will happen if we lose,” Dr. Gresham said, “but we are pretty optimistic. It’s a good cause and I hope we get a favorable decision. I’m grateful the Supreme Court has picked it up and we are very fortunate to be aligned with Priests for Life and the other groups.”
Noting that an abortion clinic is located not far from his residence, he said he is heartened when he sees prayerful protestors outside.
“I’m so grateful for the Catholic Church taking such a strong stand against abortion,” he said. “When a nation denies the sanctity of life, it’s a sign of deterioration. The sanctity of life is non-negotiable.”