Mich. family business requests religious freedom protection from Obama mandate

WASHINGTON — Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing a Michigan family and its fastener supply business filed a lawsuit Thursday against the Obama administration to halt enforcement of the abortion pill mandate.

 

“Every American, including family business owners like the DeVries, should be free to live and do business according to their faith,” said allied attorney Robb Krueger, a Kalamazoo, Mich. attorney with Kreis, Enderle, Hudgins & Borsos. “The cost of religious freedom for this family, as with other job creators across the country, could result in massive fines that would cripple family businesses and threaten jobs if the government ultimately has its way.”

 

“The government shouldn’t punish people of faith for making decisions in accordance with their faith,” added allied attorney Jason Miller, a Grand Rapids, Mich. attorney with Miller, Johnson, Snell & Cummiskey. “Every American should know that a government with the power to do this to this family can do this--and worse--to anyone. This case is ultimately not just about one family’s religious liberty. Allowing the government to have this kind of power threatens all who love freedom in America.”

 

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 penalties by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services if the mandate’s requirements aren’t met.

 

Midwest Fastener Corp.'s owners, Henry DeVries and Robert DeVries, are practicing and believing evangelical Christians. They desire to run the company, a national supplier of fasteners, in a manner that reflects their sincerely held religious beliefs, including their belief that God requires respect for the sanctity of human life.

 

Krueger and Miller are co-counsel in the case, Midwest Fastener Corp. v. Sebelius, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Also co-counsel are John Garza, of Garza, Regan & Associates, P.C., and Bryan Beauman of Sturgill, Turner, Barker & Moloney. The attorneys are four of nearly 2,300 allied attorneys with Alliance Defending Freedom.

 

Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys and allied attorneys are also litigating 12 other lawsuits against the mandate. The lawsuits represent a large cross-section of Protestants and Catholics who object to the mandate.