WASHINGTON, Feb. 20, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Independent Women's Forum filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court case over President Obama's health law.  The brief explains that the Affordable Care Act (also known as ObamaCare) is an unconstitutional overreach of federal power and breaches the limits of the Commerce Clause.

"The Founders intended the Commerce Clause to encourage greater commerce and competition.  It was not meant to give the federal government free license to compel citizens to engage in commerce.  A Supreme Court determination that this represents a legitimate act of power essentially means that Congress has unlimited power to compel citizens to do whatever government officials want them to do," explained Sabrina Schaeffer, IWF's executive director. "It's no surprise that a centralization of such a vast part of our economy – health care – would also result in a monopolization of the conceptions of justice, charity, liberty, and life."

The IWF brief was one of at least 17 amicus curiae briefs filed last week in support of ObamaCare's challengers in the issue of whether the minimum coverage provision of the law was a valid exercise of government commerce-regulation power.

"Our brief also emphasizes that the federalist structure of our government exists for the protection of citizens' individual rights," said IWF policy analyst Hadley Heath.  "The unsurprising fact that the executive branch is now trying to dictate answers to complex moral questions about abortion, sterilization and contraception is symptomatic of a breakdown in federalism, brought on by this law's violation of the limits of the Commerce Clause."

IWF has been following the constitutional challenges to ObamaCare since the law's passage, and in October 2010 launched a Web site to track the more than 30 cases filed.  This project can be found online here: http://healthcarelawsuits.org

To read IWF's amicus brief, click here: http://c1355372.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/1edfa34d-df0b-4811-af8a-43f433912cdd/Ind%20Womens%20Forum%20amicus.pdf

The Independent Women's Forum (IWF) is a non-partisan, 501(c)(3) non-profit educational institution. IWF is dedicated to building support for free markets, limited government, and individual responsibility. IWF seeks to combat the too-common presumption that women want and benefit from big government, and build awareness of the ways that women are better served by greater economic freedom.

SOURCE Independent Women's Forum

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