Missouri lawmaker, wife, ask court for contraception insurance exclusion

[Sherman A1]

ST. LOUIS • A family should have the same right as a small business to opt out of birth control coverage in its health care plan, the lawyer for a Missouri legislator argued Monday before a federal appeals court.

Rep. Paul Wieland, R-Imperial, and his wife, Teresa, say the contraceptive benefit required by the Affordable Care Act violates their religious beliefs as Catholics and parents of three daughters.

In what may be the first court challenge of its type, they want to opt out of that coverage without giving up their state health insurance altogether and incurring a penalty under the federal law, commonly called Obamacare.

Their attorney, from the Thomas More Society, a public interest law firm based in Chicago, insisted to the U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals that a family is no different from a small business whose owners have religious objections to subsidizing contraception for employees.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/missouri-lawmaker-wife-ask-court-for-contraception-insurance-exclusion/article_9be010f0-bc90-5eec-8614-9b00cef56dd0.html