PITTSBURGH — Two Catholic dioceses in Pennsylvania and related social service entities filed separate lawsuits asking federal judges to overturn a looming federal health care mandate to provide contraceptive and abortion-inducing drugs or services as part of their employee health care plans.

A spokesman for the federal Department of Health and Human Services declined to comment on the lawsuits filed Monday. The lawsuit filed by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh, which serves about 700,000 Catholics in six southwestern counties, called the mandate an “unprecedented government infringement on the religious liberties of religious organizations.”

Bishop David Zubik said at a news conference that the mandate would exempt only church entities that primarily employ and serve Catholics and appears to be based on an interpretation that applies “religious liberty” to worship only.

“We cannot accept that rather than asking ‘Are you sick?’ and ‘Are you hungry?’ that we must first ask ‘Are you Catholic?’ We help people because we are Catholic, not because they are Catholic,” Zubik said.

The lawsuit filed by the diocese and its local Catholic Charities and Catholic Cemeteries Association also contends a compromise announced by President Barack Obama in February that shifts the burden of providing the coverage from the organizations to their insurance companies amounts to an “accounting gimmick” and doesn’t help the diocese in any event because it is self-insured.

Geneva College, a private Christian school, filed a similar lawsuit in February. The Justice Department has asked a judge to dismiss Geneva’s lawsuit as “premature.”

The Erie diocese covering northwestern Pennsylvania also filed its own lawsuit Monday. The Pennsylvania lawsuits were among 12 filed around the country Monday, naming 43 Catholic organizations, including the University of Notre Dame, as plaintiffs.

The HHS declined to comment on the Geneva suit, too, except to refer to a document defending its rationale that states: “The Supreme Court has held that the First Amendment right to free exercise of religion is not violated by a law that is not specifically targeted at religiously motivated conduct and that applies equally to conduct without regard to whether it is religiously motivated.”

The Pittsburgh lawsuit, however, said the health care mandate isn’t neutral, because it exempts some organizations and because HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has spoken out against Catholic teachings, including at an NARAL Pro-Choice American fundraiser.