ADF: Government has no mandate to meddle in a family's business

 

 

WHO: Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing the Hahn family and Conestoga Wood Specialties

WHAT: Available to media following Supreme Court oral arguments in Conestoga Wood Specialties v. Sebelius

WHEN: Tuesday, March 25, immediately following hearing, which begins at 10 a.m. EDT

WHERE: Outside U.S. Supreme Court, 1 First St. NE, Washington

Lead counsel Paul Clement (center) and ADF Senior Counsel David Cortman (right) speaking to the media after the oral arguments at the U.S. Supreme Court in Conestoga Wood Specialties v. Sebelius and Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores. (Associated Press / Charles Dharapak)

WASHINGTON — Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys challenging the Obama administration’s abortion pill mandate will be available for media interviews at the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday following oral arguments in Conestoga Wood Specialties v. Sebelius. The case is one of two major legal challenges to the mandate that the high court will hear that day.

On Monday and Tuesday, members of the media in Washington, D.C. who desire interviews should contact Greg Scott at (480) 710-1965 or Kerri Kupec at (202) 568-1545. Members of the media outside of Washington, D.C. should call (480) 444-0020 or use the online interview request page.

“The government has no business bullying family business owners into paying for other people’s abortion pills, which are widely available at low cost,” said Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel David Cortman. “The Constitution guarantees the highest form of respect to the freedom of families like the Hahns. It’s absurd for the government to argue that disregarding the Hahn family’s freedom is necessary when it already exempts 100 million people from this unjust mandate.”

Two ADF staff members hold signs that read "Paying for someone else's abortion pills is 100% not healthcare" outside the U.S. Supreme Court on March 25, 2014. (Washington Examiner / Graeme Jennings)

“Americans must be free to exercise their constitutionally protected liberties without fear of punishment,” added Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Legal Counsel Matt Bowman. “No American family should be forced to choose between following their faith and submitting to unlawful and unnecessary government mandates.”

The mandate forces employers, regardless of their religious or moral convictions, to provide insurance coverage for abortion-inducing drugs, sterilization, and contraception under threat of heavy financial penalties if the mandate’s requirements aren’t met. The Hahns asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review their case after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit ruled 2–1 against them. The decision conflicts with most other circuits and with the vast majority of rulings on the mandate so far.

“Americans don’t give up their freedom when they open a family business,” added co-counsel and allied attorney Randall Wenger. Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys are lead counsel in the case together with Wenger, with the Independence Law Center, and allied attorney Charles Proctor III, with the Pennsylvania firm Proctor, Lindsay & Dixon.