It isn’t just American Christians who are clashing with their government over social issues. According to the National Post of Canada, a series of court challenges have arisen against an abortion clause in the country’s Summer Jobs program guidelines.

Added this year, the clause requires applicants to declare that both the job and the organization’s “core mandate” respect reproductive rights (defined as access to abortion). 

“Following widespread outcry, the government issued a clarification that ‘core mandate’ refers only to activities, not beliefs—but many organizations still refused to sign the attestation or wrote in their own interpretation,” the Post reported.

“Government figures show 1,559 applications were eventually rejected over incomplete or modified attestations, though hundreds of religious groups were also approved for grants.”

The policy was first challenged in federal court in January by the Toronto Right to Life Association. In late May, a campus ministry filed suit after its application for funding for 44 summer jobs was rejected because its beliefs are contrary to the government’s views.

Last week, an Ontario concrete company filed a case that focuses on its right to remain neutral on such issues as abortion.