Who will prevail: Hercules or Obama?
Alliance Defending Freedom attorney available to media following Colo. hearing over abortion pill mandate
Tuesday, Jul 24, 2012
Attorney sound bite: Matt Bowman
WHO: Alliance Defending Freedom Legal Counsel Matt Bowman
WHAT: Available for media interviews following hearing in Newland v. Sebelius
WHEN: Wednesday, July 25, immediately following hearing which begins at 1:30 p.m. MDT
WHERE: U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, Courtroom A802, Alfred A. Arraj Federal Courthouse, 901 19th St., Denver
DENVER — Alliance Defending Freedom Legal Counsel Matt Bowman will be available for media interviews immediately following his oral argument in federal court Wednesday on behalf of a Colorado family business suing the Obama administration over its abortion pill mandate.
Hercules Industries and the Catholic family that owns it are seeking an immediate order to halt the Obama administration mandate that forces employers to provide insurance coverage for abortion-inducing drugs, sterilization, and contraception. The administration’s response argues, contrary to the Constitution, that people of faith forfeit their religious liberty once they engage in business.
“Every American, including family business owners, should be free to live and do business according to their faith,” said Bowman. “ObamaCare demands that Americans choose between two poison pills: either desert your faith by complying, or resist and be punished. Americans don’t want politicians and bureaucrats deciding what faith is, who the faithful are, and where and how that faith may be lived out. Under the Constitution, the government is charged with safeguarding our freedom, not snuffing out the very freedom it is sworn to protect.”
Since Hercules Industries would be required to begin offering the new coverage when its self-insured plan renews on Nov. 1, Alliance Defending Freedom has requested a preliminary injunction that could prevent the government from enforcing the mandate against the company by Aug. 1, the date when the company would need to begin the process of making changes to its plan.
According to the brief Alliance Defending Freedom filed along with the motion requesting the injunction, “the mandate disregards religious conscience rights that are enshrined in federal statutory and constitutional law.” It also violates the First Amendment “due to its massive inapplicability and its discrimination among religions,” the brief explains.
Hercules owners William Newland, Paul Newland, James Newland, and Christine Ketterhagen, and its vice-president, Andrew Newland, desire to run their company in a manner that reflects their sincerely held religious beliefs, including their belief that God requires respect for the dignity of human life and sexuality. Their lawsuit, Newland v. Sebelius, was filed April 30 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado.
WHAT: Available for media interviews following hearing in Newland v. Sebelius
WHEN: Wednesday, July 25, immediately following hearing which begins at 1:30 p.m. MDT
WHERE: U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, Courtroom A802, Alfred A. Arraj Federal Courthouse, 901 19th St., Denver
DENVER — Alliance Defending Freedom Legal Counsel Matt Bowman will be available for media interviews immediately following his oral argument in federal court Wednesday on behalf of a Colorado family business suing the Obama administration over its abortion pill mandate.Hercules Industries and the Catholic family that owns it are seeking an immediate order to halt the Obama administration mandate that forces employers to provide insurance coverage for abortion-inducing drugs, sterilization, and contraception. The administration’s response argues, contrary to the Constitution, that people of faith forfeit their religious liberty once they engage in business.
“Every American, including family business owners, should be free to live and do business according to their faith,” said Bowman. “ObamaCare demands that Americans choose between two poison pills: either desert your faith by complying, or resist and be punished. Americans don’t want politicians and bureaucrats deciding what faith is, who the faithful are, and where and how that faith may be lived out. Under the Constitution, the government is charged with safeguarding our freedom, not snuffing out the very freedom it is sworn to protect.”
Since Hercules Industries would be required to begin offering the new coverage when its self-insured plan renews on Nov. 1, Alliance Defending Freedom has requested a preliminary injunction that could prevent the government from enforcing the mandate against the company by Aug. 1, the date when the company would need to begin the process of making changes to its plan.
According to the brief Alliance Defending Freedom filed along with the motion requesting the injunction, “the mandate disregards religious conscience rights that are enshrined in federal statutory and constitutional law.” It also violates the First Amendment “due to its massive inapplicability and its discrimination among religions,” the brief explains.
Hercules owners William Newland, Paul Newland, James Newland, and Christine Ketterhagen, and its vice-president, Andrew Newland, desire to run their company in a manner that reflects their sincerely held religious beliefs, including their belief that God requires respect for the dignity of human life and sexuality. Their lawsuit, Newland v. Sebelius, was filed April 30 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado.
- Fact sheet on the case
- Pronunciation guide: Bowman (BOH’-min)
Alliance Defending Freedom (formerly Alliance Defense Fund) is an alliance-building legal ministry that advocates for the right of people to freely live out their faith.
# # # | Ref. 37155