The following is a statement from Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., president of the University of Notre Dame, on the Trump administration’s decision today (Oct. 6) to broaden religious and moral exemptions to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services contraception mandate:
“The University joined a lawsuit against the previous federal rules – by which the government decreed which institutions were sufficiently religious to be exempted and forced those who were not to sign the HHS waiver – because it believes critical issues of religious freedom were at stake. For that reason, we welcome this reversal and applaud the attorney general’s statement that ‘except in the narrowest circumstances, no one should be forced to choose between living out his or her faith and complying with the law.’”