This week a suit was filed by another for-profit family-owned business, along with its two controlling officers, challenging the Affordable Care Act contraceptive coverage mandate under the 1st Amendment, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the Administrative Procedure Act. The complaint (
full text) in
Barron Industries, Inc. v. Sebelius, (D DC, filed 9/4/2013) involves a Michigan-based metal products company with 56 full-time employees. The complaint alleges in part:
Plaintiffs operate by their business practices, pursuant to their guiding principle— which is their faith in God—and receive grace and guidance from God in all their business practices, including Plaintiffs’ selection of health insurance....
Based on the teachings of the Catholic Church, and their deeply held religious beliefs, Plaintiffs do not believe that contraception, sterilization, or abortion are properly understood to constitute medicine, health care, or a means of providing for the well being of persons. Indeed, Plaintiffs believe these procedures involve gravely immoral practices, specifically the intentional destruction of innocent human life. Therefore, Plaintiffs seek to exclude this objectionable coverage from their health insurance plan.
The Thomas More Law Center issued a
press release announcing the filing of the lawsuit.
