PRESS RELEASE: Lozier Scholar Submits Amicus Brief in Little Sisters Case

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 12, 2016
Contact: Mallory Quigley, mquigley@sba-list.org, 202-223-8073

Research shows that, Despite Obama Administration Claims, Contraception Mandates do not Reduce Rates of Unintended Pregnancy or Abortion

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Michael New, Ph.D., an Associate Scholar with the Charlotte Lozier Institute, the education arm of Susan B. Anthony List, submitted an amicus curiae brief yesterday to the U.S. Supreme Court in Zubik v. Burwell and consolidated cases.

These cases represent a challenge against the Obamacare contraception mandate and its impact on the religious freedom of the Little Sisters of the Poor and other religious nonprofits.  The religious nonprofit organizations are arguing that the so-called “accommodation” crafted by the Obama Administration violates religious freedom protections secured by the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA).

Dr. New argues that:

• Reducing rates of unintended pregnancy or abortion cannot stand as a compelling government interest for imposing the mandate.
• Contraception mandates do not reduce rates of unintended pregnancy or abortion.
• If the government’s goal is to reduce rates of unintended pregnancy or abortion, the government cannot show a compelling interest in enforcing the mandate in any case much less a marginal interest in enforcing the mandate in these particular cases, as RFRA requires.

In his brief, Dr. New presents research findings drawn from regression analysis he conducted of contraceptive mandates imposed by more than two dozen states.  Dr. New used data from nearly all 50 states.  He compared public health metrics before and after contraceptive mandates took effect.  Dr. New also compared public health outcomes in states with contraceptive mandates to public health outcomes in states without contraceptive mandates.

“At the state-level, contraceptive mandates have produced no discernible reduction in rates of unintended pregnancy or abortion,” said Dr. Michael New. “A federal mandate will be no more effective than state mandates have been in reducing rates of unintended pregnancy or abortion.”

Michael J. New, Ph.D., is an Associate Scholar at the Charlotte Lozier Institute, which studies federal and state policies and their impact on women’s health and on child and family well-being.  Dr. New received his Ph.D. in Statistics from Stanford University, has served as a post-doctoral fellow at the Harvard-MIT data center, and is also a Fellow with the Witherspoon Institute, Princeton, New Jersey, as well as a Visiting Associate Professor of Economics at Ave Maria University in Florida.

Charlotte Lozier Institute was launched in 2011 as the education and research arm of Susan B. Anthony List.  CLI is a hub for research and public policy analysis on some of the most pressing issues facing the United States and nations around the world. The Institute is named for a feminist physician known for her commitment to the sanctity of human life and equal career and educational opportunities for women.

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