Gorsuch Defended Religious Liberty of Christian Business Owners Against Obama’s Abortifacient Mandate

by Terence P. Jeffrey, CNS News:

Judge Neil Gorsuch, whom President Donald Trump has nominated to the Supreme Court, wrote a concurring opinion on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit defending the right of Christian business owners not to comply with a regulatory mandate issued by the Obama administration forcing them to cover abortion-inducing drugs and devices in their health-care plans.

The opinion was published Jun 27, 2013, in the case of Hobby Lobby v. Sebelius.

Gorsuch agreed with the appeals court’s ruling that Hobby Lobby and Mardel, two businesses owned by the Green family, were entitled to an injunction against the Obamacare regulation.

Gorsuch wrote:

“All of us face the problem of complicity. All of us must answer for ourselves whether and to what degree we are willing to be involved in the wrongdoing of others. For some, religion provides an essential source of guidance both about what constitutes wrongful conduct and the degree to which those who assist others in committing wrongful conduct themselves bear moral culpability. The Green family members are among those who seek guidance from their faith on these questions. Understanding that is the key to understanding this case.

“As the Greens explain their complaint, the ACA’s mandate requires them to violate their religious faith by forcing them to lend an impermissible degree of assistance to conduct their religion teaches to be gravely wrong. No one before us disputes that the mandate compels Hobby Lobby and Mardel to underwrite payments for drugs or devices that can have the effect of destroying a fertilized human egg. No one disputes that the Greens’ religion teaches them that the use of such drugs or devices is gravely wrong.

“It is no less clear from the Greens’ uncontested allegations that Hobby Lobby and Mardel cannot comply with the mandate unless and until the Greens direct them to do so–that they are the human actors who must compel the corporations to comply with the mandate.

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