Thomas More Society Files in Federal District Court for State Rep Wieland and Family

Contact: Tom Ciesielka, 312-422-1333, tc@tcpr.net

ST. LOUIS, Aug. 14, 2013 /Christian Newswire/ -- Today, Thomas More Society attorneys filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri against the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and the U.S. Department of Labor, on behalf of Missouri State Representative Paul Joseph Wieland and his wife, Teresa Jane Wieland. The Wielands are suing the federal government for violating their religious liberty, free speech, and parental rights by requiring them to subscribe to group insurance coverage for their family that includes abortion-inducing drugs, sterilization, and birth control. The case seeks a declaratory judgment and an injunction to stop the infringement on the family’s civil rights by the legislature's new health insurance program.

Wieland was notified in July of 2013 by the Missouri Consolidated Health Care Plan that, as of August 1, 2013, he would no longer be able to receive health coverage that is free of abortion-inducing drugs. Wieland had specifically enrolled in a program that did not cover these items which he and his family consider objectionable.

Timothy Belz, special counsel for the Thomas More Society, explained, "The particulars of Obamacare are now forcing our clients to participate in something they consider an intrinsic evil. The Wielands fervently believe abortifacients and abortion on demand do not constitute medicine or health care. Their religious faith defines abortion as the intentional destruction of innocent human life, and the Wielands believe that it is gravely immoral."

Belz stated the legal premise behind the lawsuit, "The intention of the founding fathers was to protect people from government imposition into their religious convictions. Instead, the federal government is now coercing our clients into abandoning their religious views and interfering with these parents' right to raise their daughters within their Catholic principles." He added, "The federal government has ignored the rights of individuals, such as the Wielands, who hold sincere religious beliefs that condemn abortion and any medication or procedure that causes abortion."

The lawsuit by the Wieland family names U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, U.S. Department of the Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew, and U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Seth D. Harris as defendants.

A copy of the lawsuit is available here.

About the Thomas More Society
Thomas More Society is a national not-for-profit law firm that exists to restore respect in law for life, marriage, and religious liberty. Headquartered in Chicago, the Society fosters support for these causes by providing high quality pro-bono professional legal services from local trial courts all the way to the United States Supreme Court. www.thomasmoresociety.org