WASHINGTON, Feb. 14, 2012/Christian Newswire --
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACT) violates the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment by forcing some individuals to personally pay a separate abortion insurance premium in defilement of their religious beliefs, according to "friends of the court" (amici curiae) filed with the Supreme Court by the Life Legal Defense Foundation, Bioethics Defense Fund and others.
"The ACT has nestled within it a hidden 'abortion health insurance premium mandate'," said Dana Cody, Executive Director of the Life Legal Defense Foundation. "The ACT includes inescapable requirements that all individuals who are enrolled in a health plan -- either on their own or by their employer -- include abortion services in the coverage. This will encumber the conscience and free exercise rights of millions of Americans by imposing an unconstitutional burden."
Today's filing with the Supreme Court argues:
The ACT and its individual mandate violate the Free Exercise Clause by imposing an "Abortion Premium Mandate" without regard to religious objection.The ACT contains an "Abortion Premium Mandate" that compels enrollees in certain health plans to pay a separate abortion premium from their own pocket, while denying enrollees the ability to decline abortion coverage based on moral objection.
Our nation has a long and deeply-rooted history of respecting and protecting the conscience rights of individuals to not be forced into the practice or funding of elective abortions.
Our founders' protection of individual liberty, including religious liberty, is directly undermined by the ACT's transgression of the constitutional limits on congressional power.
"This ACT and President Obama want citizens to have their choices impermissibly limited by being forced to choose between their conscience and a health insurance plan that requires an abortion premium," said Cody. "How could Congress allow for this ACT to make pro-life individuals pay for a pro-abortion agenda?"
The brief can be read here.
