Three Mennonite Christians who own a wood manufacturing company in
Pennsylvania have filed a lawsuit challenging the federal contraception
mandate for threatening their right to religious freedom.
“Being told that we must provide a health plan that includes a
provision that violates the Christian beliefs of our family and the
Christian values that our company was founded on is deeply troubling,”
said Anthony Hahn, president and CEO of Conestoga Wood Specialties
Corporation.
“Forcing Americans to surrender long-standing, deeply-held principles
in order to own and run a business is not merely troubling but
unnecessary and unconstitutional,” he added.
Hahn is challenging a federal regulation that requires employers to
offer health insurance plans that cover contraception, sterilization and
abortion-inducing drugs. Conestoga would be required to comply with the
mandate when its insurance plan renews on Jan. 1, 2013.
Dozens of lawsuits have been filed against the mandate by religious
employers who argue that it forces them to violate their sincerely-held
beliefs. The federal government has argued that businesses which are
deemed “secular” do not have the constitutional right to freedom of
religion.
On Dec. 4, attorneys with Independence Law Center filed a legal
challenge in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of
Pennsylvania on behalf of Conestoga’s founder Norman Hahn, and his sons
Norman Lemar Hahn and Anthony Hahn, who manage the company.
A family business with some 950 full-time employees throughout the
U.S., Conestoga is a manufacturer of wood cabinets, doors and other
specialty products.
The Hahns have always sought to “operate Conestoga in a manner that
reflects their sincerely held religious beliefs” as Mennonite
Christians, the lawsuit says, noting that the company’s mission
statement includes a commitment to “the highest ethical, moral, and
Christian principles.”
The family believes “that their Mennonite faith prohibits them from
separating their religious beliefs from their daily business practice,”
the suit stresses.
Given their conviction that “God requires respect for the sanctity of
human life,” the Hahns believe “it would be sinful and immoral for them
to intentionally participate in, pay for, facilitate, or otherwise
support any contraception with an abortifacient effect,” the legal
challenge says.
The Hahns currently provide health insurance that does not include
drugs such as Plan B and ella, which can kill a newly-conceived human
embryo. Coverage of these drugs is required under the mandate.
The family is now asking the court for an injunction to block the
enforcement of the mandate. Several other for-profit businesses have
secured initial injunctions in similar lawsuits while their cases
progress through the court system.
The Independence Law Center noted that Mennonites have faced a long
history of religious discrimination and persecution, and many of them
were attracted by the promise of religious freedom to settle in
Pennsylvania in the early 1700s.
“People of faith should not be punished for making decisions according
to the deepest convictions of that faith,” said attorney Charles W.
Proctor III in a statement announcing the lawsuit.
“Americans should be free to honor God in the way they see fit whether
at work or at home or at church,” added attorney Randall Wenger. “To ask
us to do otherwise would show extreme disrespect to our freedom of
conscience.”