Obamacare forcing pro-life family to pay for other people's abortions

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing a Connecticut pro-life leader and his family that are losing their health plan due to Obamacare filed suit in federal court Thursday. The family is suing because they are now being forced on to the state’s health insurance exchange, which only offers plans that require them to pay for other people’s abortions.

The lawsuit also challenges secrecy clauses within Obamacare which forbid Americans from being told prior to enrollment whether the plans they would purchase on an exchange will include abortion coverage. The clauses also forbid Americans from being told how much of the premium is a federally mandated abortion surcharge that pays for other people’s elective abortions.

“With Obamacare, if you like your current plan, you can’t always keep it, and you may have to pay for other people’s abortions in your new plan,” said ADF Senior Counsel Casey Mattox. “Neither the Constitution nor federal and state law allow for this type of government coercion. The Obama administration may not place a very high value on respecting a person’s constitutionally protected freedoms, but both federal and state law do. We are asking the court to stop the individual mandate from violating the rights of this family.”

“No one should be forced to pay for other people’s abortions,” added ADF Senior Legal Counsel Matt Bowman. “In America, we don’t separate what people do from what they believe, and that’s why Obamacare’s attack on the freedoms of Americans must stop.”

Barth and Abbie Bracy have insurance through a private insurer, but Obamacare has forced the insurer to cancel the policy effective later this year. Now being forced on to the Obamacare exchange in the state of Connecticut, the Bracys are left only with plans that include a mandatory surcharge used to fund the elective abortions of others. Ironically, Barth Bracy is executive director of The Rhode Island State Right to Life Committee and has warned people of exactly the problems his family is now facing.

“Through the Affordable Care Act, the government has required the Bracys to purchase a certain type of government-approved health insurance or pay burdensome fines for their refusal…,” the complaint filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut states. “[T]he Bracys must also pay a separate fee to be used solely to pay for elective abortions for others. The Bracys are devout Catholics; Barth Bracy is an ordained deacon and a former missionary. The Bracys are deeply pro-life and object to being forced to pay for procedures that kill innocent human beings….”

The complaint in Bracy v. Sebelius also explains that federal government agencies and officials “exacerbate these constitutional violations by prohibiting insurers on the exchanges and exchange officials from providing the Bracys or any other Americans with truthful information about abortion coverage in the plans they offer or the amount of the premiums that the issuers will collect from enrollees to be expressly and exclusively used to pay for elective abortions.”

Michael DePrimo, one of more than 2,300 attorneys allied with Alliance Defending Freedom, is serving as local counsel on behalf of the Bracys.

Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization that advocates for the right of people to freely live out their faith.