New Progress in the Fight Against the Abortion-Pill Mandate

The ACLJ has recently filed our third lawsuit against President Obama’s abortion-pill mandate. The mandate, implemented by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) through ObamaCare, forces employer provided health insurance plans to cover abortion pills.

It forces people of faith who believe in the sanctity of human life to pay for abortion-pill coverage in direct violation of their constitutionally protected religious liberties.

The ACLJ has now filed three directed challenges to this unconstitutional regulation in federal courts around the country. We are representing Catholic and Evangelical Christian business owners alike who aim to conduct their businesses in accordance with their faith.

Our latest lawsuit is on behalf of Paul and Henry Griesdieck, who together own four companies representing 175 employees. The lawsuit argues that the HHS mandate violates the First Amendment, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and the Administrative Procedure Act.

We argue that these Christian business owners “are confronted with choosing between complying with its requirements in violation of their religious beliefs, or paying ruinous fines that would have a crippling impact on their ability to survive economically.” The suit also argues that the abortion-pill mandate forces them to “provide their employees with coverage of those services that Plaintiffs consider immoral on religious grounds.”

The ACLJ has not only filed three direct challenges to the HHS mandate, we have also filed amicus briefs in over a dozen other cases.

The fact of the matter is no American should be forced to violate his or her faith by being required to pay for abortion-pill coverage. This strikes at the heart of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the intent of our Founders.

The abortion-pill mandate is one of the greatest and most blatant attacks on religious liberty in America we have ever seen, and the ACLJ will continue to aggressively fight back in the courts and on Capitol Hill to see this unconstitutional violation of our liberty ended.