College suit on mandate reinstated

PITTSBURGH - A federal judge has reinstated a lawsuit filed by a college challenging federal health-care regulations that would require its student and employee health-benefits plans to cover birth control.

A judge had dismissed the lawsuit filed last year by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a civil-rights group, on behalf of Geneva College in Beaver Falls. U.S. District Judge Joy Flowers Conti reinstated much of the suit in a ruling Wednesday.

The school says it must soon decide whether to drop its student health-insurance plan before the final government rules are due in August.

"All Americans, including job creators and providers, should be free to live according to their faith rather than be forced into violating their own consciences," the alliance said in a statement.

The Justice Department attorney defending the regulations referred comment to a spokeswoman, Allison Price, who declined to comment.