Lancaster County Wood Component Business Challenges HHS Regulations
Independence Law Center attorneys file challenge to administration’s ‘abortion pill’ mandate on behalf of Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp.
Lancaster County, Pa. — Independence Law Center, representing a private Lancaster County employer, filed a federal action against the federal government over its mandate that forces the family-owned business to violate its Christian beliefs by requiring it to offer insurance coverage for abortion-inducing drugs.
Because the company, Conestoga Wood Specialties Corporation, would be required to begin offering the new coverage when its new health plan starts on January 1, the company is asking the court to grant a preliminary injunction.
“People of faith should not be punished for making decisions according to the deepest convictions of that faith,” said Attorney Charles W. Proctor, III. “When government grows so invasive to force persons to violate their conscience—government is out of control and clearly outside the bounds of our Constitutions’ Bill of Rights. The Health and Human Services abortion pill mandate would unconstitutionally force the Hahn family, owners and operators of Conestoga Wood Specialties, to do something offensive to their conscience—under threat of onerously large fines and penalties. This is un-American.”
“Americans should be free to honor God in the way they see fit whether at work or at home or at church,” said Attorney Randall Wenger. “To ask us to do otherwise would show extreme disrespect to our freedom of conscience.”
The members of the Hahn family are practicing Christians who aim to serve their employees and customers at Conestoga Wood Specialties, Corp., a manufacturer of doors and other components for the kitchen and bath industry, by following Christian principles in everything they do. They have always believed that the Bible teaches a respect for human life, including unborn children, and have always excluded contraceptive coverage for drugs that could cause abortions. The Hahns come from a religious heritage long interested in living out their religious faith in freedom—which sought the religious liberty of William Penn’s Pennsylvania in the early 1700s.
The legal action, Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. v. Sebelius, is in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The claims are based on the First and Fifth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
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Read more in the Philadelphia Inquirer.
