Missouri family appeals contraceptive mandate ruling

A Missouri state legislator and his wife are hoping the U.S. Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby ruling will prompt a federal appeals court to side with them in their fight against the government’s contraceptive mandate.

Paul and Teresa Wieland filed suit against the Obama administration last year claiming the requirement to pay for contraceptives and abortifacient drugs through their health insurance plan violates their religious beliefs. A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in the case Monday.

“The U.S. Supreme Court rightly honored the religious liberty of business owners by granting an exemption from providing abortion pill coverage to their employees in Hobby Lobby,” said Tim Belz, an attorney with the Thomas More Society representing the Wielands. “The government has no business forcing parents to purchase coverage of abortion drugs and contraceptives for their family in violation of their religious beliefs. The government’s position is a wrecking ball in the cathedral of conscience rights.”

The Wielands, who are Catholic, claim the mandate violates their religious liberty, free speech, and parental rights by forcing them to choose between canceling healthcare coverage for their three daughters or paying for drugs and services they object to on moral grounds. The family gets its health insurance through the Missouri Consolidated Health Care Plan, which provides coverage for state employees. They previously requested a plan that did not include objectionable drugs, but when the Obama administration announced the contraceptive mandate, the Wielands’insurer informed them they would have to pay for contraceptive and abortifacient coverage.

When they filed their suit, the Wielands claimed the government had no right to deny them an exemption to the mandate, since it had offered exemptions to other groups, including churches. The Wielands’ suit is the first brought by individuals against the mandate. A district judge in St. Louis sided with the government last year.

But that was before the Hobby Lobby ruling. Now that the Supreme Court has ruled business owners who object to the mandate on religious grounds don’t have to pay for the coverage for their employees, the Wielands have a stronger case.

“If the corporations don’t have to do this for their employees, certainly Mom and Dad don’t have to do it for their daughters,” Belz told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch after court Monday.

The government’s attorney, Alisa Klein, said the Wielands’case is different because they are asking for the state insurer to tailor a plan just for them.

“Here we have 100,000 beneficiaries in the Missouri group healthcare plan and there is no precedent for having the employer design the plan 100,000 ways,” she said.