AUL Files Tenth Brief Supporting First Amendment Freedom of Conscience as Constitutional Challenges to Obamacare Continue

"This is the liberty issue of our day," said AUL President and CEO Dr. Charmaine Yoest. "Americans should not be punished for refusing to provide insurance coverage for life-ending drugs and devices or be subjected to politically motivated threats to their businesses, careers, and ability to provide for their families."

WASHINGTON, March 12, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- For the tenth time, Americans United for Life filed an amicus curiae brief in challenges to Obamacare. In the brief filed today, AUL argues against the Obama Administration's "HHS mandate," which forces employers to provide insurance coverage for life-ending drugs and devices without regard for the employers' consciences and religious beliefs.

"No American should be punished for refusing to provide insurance coverage for life-ending drugs and devices or be subjected to politically motivated threats to their businesses, careers, and ability to provide for their families. This Administration's willingness to bankrupt American businesses and individuals who do not share its relentless embrace of radically pro-abortion policies is an abuse of the very authority it is supposed to wield for the good of our citizens."

She continued: "Forcing a private business to provide coverage of abortion-inducing drugs is a clear violation of our constitutional liberties.  AUL remains at the forefront of the battle to defend freedom of conscience, and we will continue this fight as long as the threat of the HHS mandate and other coercive elements of the healthcare law remain."

AUL's brief is filed in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in Annex Medical, Inc. v. Sebelius, a case filed by a private, for-profit business based in Minnetonka, Minnesota and operated according to the owners' Christian beliefs. 

As a result of the HHS Mandate, Annex Medical, which has been in business for 25 years, faces the choice of complying with this coercive and inherently unconstitutional mandate, paying potentially crippling fines, or being forced out of business. In January, a federal district court denied the business' request for an injunction preventing enforcement of the coercive mandate.  The plaintiffs immediately appealed and the Eighth Circuit granted a temporary injunction while it considers the case.

AUL's brief, available here, demonstrates that "emergency contraception" can prevent an embryo from implanting or kill an already implanted embryo, and that forcing employers to provide coverage for such drugs violates their constitutionally protected freedom of conscience.

The brief was filed on behalf of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians & Gynecologists, Christian Medical Association, Catholic Medical Association, National Catholic Bioethics Center, Physicians for Life, and National Association of Pro Life Nurses.

For more information on life-affirming healthcare, visit AUL's unique project, Real Healthcare Respects Life, here.

SOURCE Americans United for Life