Santa Paula-based Thomas Aquinas College has joined with several other Catholic educational institutions in a lawsuit against the federal government over a mandate that the school provide coverage for contraceptives under the Affordable Care Act.

The lawsuit was filed in Washington D.C. The college’s co-plaintiffs are the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Washington, The Catholic University of America and others.

The complaint argues that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the administrator of the health care law, is violating the university’s right to the free exercise of religion under the First Amendment and several federal laws.

“It is important for a Catholic educational institution such as Thomas Aquinas College to bear witness to its Catholic character by challenging measures which create a conflict between its duty to obey the civil law and its duty to remain faithful to Catholic teaching,” Michael F. McLean, president of the college, said in a news release.