By Roy Hayhurst, GuideStone Financial Resources DALLAS – An Oklahoma federal court issued a permanent injunction Thursday, March 15, prohibiting the federal government from enforcing the contraceptive mandate issued by the Obama Administration in 2013. The mandate, issued under the Affordable Care Act, would have forced certain ministries to provide abortion-causing drugs or devices or face potentially crippling fines. The permanent injunction protects the plaintiffs in the case — Reaching Souls International, an Oklahoma mission-sending entity, and Truett McConnell University, a Georgia Baptist institution — along with GuideStone. The permanent injunction also protects “all current and future participating employers in the GuideStone Plan, and any third-party administrators acting on behalf of these entities with respect to the GuideStone Plan.” Churches and closely held ministries were exempt from the mandate already. “The permanent injunction ensures that no ministry GuideStone serves is forced to choose between following its conscience or facing fines that may put its very existence at risk,” said Harold R. Loftin Jr., chief legal officer for GuideStone. “This is the very heart of why we have the Religious … [Read more...]