DC Court of Appeals Rules Against HHS Mandate

11/02/13

By Hadley Heath

Somewhere on the list of the more than 200 plaintiffs challenging ObamaCare's HHS mandate are the Gilardi brothers, owners of Freshway Foods, a produce company in Ohio.

The Catholic businessmen filed suit because the provision of insurance coverage for contraception and sterilization (required by ObamaCare) violates their religious beliefs. A lower court ruled against them, but the DC Court of Appeals reversed that ruling. Importantly, Judge Janice Rogers Brown wrote the following in response the the government's argument about women's right to abortion:

It is clear the government has failed to demonstrate how such a right — whether described as noninterference, privacy, or autonomy — can extend to the compelled subsidization of a woman’s procreative practices.

You can read more at Life News.

This is not the first case to reach a ruling at the appellate level. The Hobby Lobby won an injunction in the 10th Circuit, which the DOJ is appealing to SCOTUS. Conestoga Wood (6th Circuit), and Autocam (3rd Circuit) have also submitted Cert Petitions seeking reversals of their appellate rulings. The Gilardi case adds yet another appellate ruling to the split-circuit mix, creating even more pressure for SCOTUS to take up the issue.

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