Federal judge dismisses contraception mandate suit

ST. LOUIS -- A federal judge in St. Louis has dismissed a lawsuit challenging the contraception mandate of the federal health care law.

The lawsuit filed on behalf of Frank O'Brien and his company, O'Brien Industrial Holdings LLC of St. Louis, was one of nearly three dozen cases nationally challenging the constitutionality of regulations in the health care law. Among other things, O'Brien, a devout Catholic, claimed the requirement to pay for birth control infringes on his religious beliefs.

U.S. District Judge Carole Jackson, in a ruling late Friday, disagreed. O'Brien is appealing the ruling.

Attorneys in the case say the ruling is believed to be the first on the merits of the contraceptive clause of the health care law.