Another Contraceptive Coverage Mandate Challenge-- This Time By PLC Law Firm and Its Principals

Yet another lawsuit challenging the Affordable Care Act's contraceptive coverage mandate has been filed-- this one by an employer that is a law firm organized as a Michigan professional limited liability company.  The federal court lawsuit was filed by the PLC and by the two brothers who are each 50% owners of the firm. One brother is Catholic and the other is Protestant.  The complaint (full text) in Willis & Willis PLC v. Sebelius, (D DC, filed 7/24/2013), challenges required coverage for contraceptives plaintiffs consider to be abortifacients.  Alleging 1st Amendment, RFRA and APA violations, the complaint contends in part:

Had Plaintiffs’ religious beliefs, or the beliefs of the millions of other Americans who share Plaintiffs’ religious beliefs been obscure or unknown, the Defendants’ actions might have been an accident. But because the Defendants acted with full knowledge of those beliefs, and because they arbitrarily exempt some plans for a wide range of reasons other than religious conviction, the Mandate can be interpreted as nothing other than a deliberate attack by the Defendants on Christianity, the religious beliefs held by Plaintiffs and the similar religious beliefs held by millions of other Americans.

Thomas More Law Center issued a press release announcing the filing of the lawsuit.