"We are pleased that the District Court has upheld our principal claim for relief under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act," said Peter Breen, Thomas More Society Special Counsel. "Individual citizens, such as Missouri State Senator Wieland and his family, have as powerful and robust an entitlement to religious liberty as do commercial businesses such as Hobby Lobby and churches and religious nonprofits such as the Little Sisters of the Poor. Rights to religious liberty, as broadly protected by the federal RFRA law, apply to individuals and families equally as they protect commercial, ecclesiastical and other religious institutions and associations of citizens. We look forward to proceeding with our case and winning a final judgment against the Obama Health and Human Services Department (HHS), represented by the Department of Justice, so as to establish fully and finally that RFRA protects the exercise of religious liberty on behalf of all American citizens—business owners, churches, and individuals and families alike."

Thomas More Society retained Timothy and Matthew Belz of the St. Louis law firm, Otten, Leggat & Belz, to bring the lawsuit on behalf of the Wielands several years ago, and while the lawsuit asserted a variety of legal theories, its central and pivotal claim was that the HHS Obamacare mandate infringed upon the Wielands' religious liberties because it forced them to violate their sincerely-held religious beliefs by providing health insurance coverage for abortion-inducing drugs, sterilization, and birth control, not just for themselves but also for their teenage and adult daughters. The District Court dismissed the case on procedural grounds late in 2013, but the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, also sitting in St. Louis, unanimously reversed that initial dismissal on appeal nearly a year later. The appellate panel then directed that the case be heard on its merits, sending it back to the District Court for that purpose.

Once the case was back before the same District Judge Jean C. Hamilton who had granted the earlier dismissal, the Department of Justice mounted another vigorous effort to dismiss the case a second time. But while Judge Hamilton did dismiss several other legal claims urged by the Weilands (due process, procedural, and free exercise of religion claims), her decision left the Weilands' principal claim under RFRA fully intact—the same claim that had earlier won exemptions from Obamacare's abortion pill mandate for Hobby Lobby and for business clients previously represented by Thomas More Society, namely, Autocom of Grand Rapids, MI, and Triune and Ozinga, both Chicago area firms. As Judge Hamilton wrote, "Congress enacted RFRA 'in order to provide very broad protection for religious liberty.'"

The District Court's order also relied on the 8th Circuit's decision in Sharpe Holdings, also won on appeal by the Belz firm, where the Court concluded that Obamacare's so-called "accommodation" process for religious believers nevertheless "imposed a substantial burden on the eligible-organization plaintiffs because, in the event the plaintiffs adhered to their religious beliefs and refused to comply with the Mandate or accommodation regulations, they faced significant monetary penalties."

To receive daily emails from Breaking Christian News to your inbox CLICK HERE

Give Him 15: Mercy is Our New Currency

A Little Baby Girl Is Rescued from a Dumpster in Texas. A Dumpster

Nonprofit Asks Feds to Investigate Schools' 'Gender-Affirming Care' Practices

Latest Move by the President to Prevent a Government Shutdown Is Brilliant

Trump Closes Loophole Allowing Illegal Aliens to Drive Commercial Trucks After Tragic Accidents

Trump's Administration Finds 25,000 Missing Migrant Children

Autism, What We Know: Science Backs Up President Trump's Statements

Former FBI Director James Comey Indicted by Grand Jury for Obstruction in Russia Hoax Investigation

The Spiritual Battle is REAL!: Sean McDowell's Son Encounters a 'Demon' While Evangelizing in NYC

3 Suspects Arrested after Houston Youth Baseball Coach Shot during Pregame Prayer With Kids

Explosive Clash: Dearborn Mayor Attacks Resident Who Objected to Terrorist Street Naming

Economy: Second Quarter GDP Revised Up – Again – to Best Quarter Since 2023

DOGE Helped Uncover the Biggest Health Care Heist in American History

Charlie's TPUSA Campus Tours Continue as Virginia Tech Venue Fills to Max Capacity

Justice Department Seeks to Indict Former FBI Director James Comey before Looming Deadline, for Allegedly Lying to Congress

What Happens When You 'Pause' Your Child's Puberty? The Answer Is Even More Devastating Than You'd Think

Texas Bans Gender-Confused People from Using Opposite-Sex Facilities in Public Schools, Prisons

NBC Forced to Retract Claim that ICE Used 5-Year-Old Autistic Girl as 'Bait'; In Reality, Her Criminal Alien Father Abandoned Her in a Car and Agents Rescued the Child

President Trump Urges UN to Protect 'The Most Persecuted Religion on the Planet Today: Christianity'

Secret Service Finds, Dismantles Massive 'Telecommunications Threat' Near UN General Assembly in New York