Midstate company takes health insurance lawsuit to highest court

(Harrisburg) — The owners of a Lancaster County-based business are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear their case challenging a mandate included in the federal Affordable Care Act.

Conestoga Wood Specialties has been in the woodworking business for over 50 years and employs about one thousand people nationwide. It’s owned by the Hahn family, who says the requirement under the federal health care law for businesses to cover all contraceptives in their health insurance plan violates their religious liberties.

They oppose any drugs that could be considered abortion-inducing.

Chief Counsel of the Independence Law Center Randall Wenger is representing the Hahns in the case, and says their pro-life beliefs are rooted in their Mennonite faith.

“Both their business and they as individuals have their religious liberty in jeopardy by being forced to facilitate something that runs completely contrary to their conscience,” Wenger says.

The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals sided against the company, ruling business owners forfeit their religious liberties. But, Wenger says the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled differently in a similar case.

He says the split decisions present a reasonable chance the nation’s highest court will take up the issue.