Legal Group, Four Pro-Life Advocates Sue to Stop Pro-Abortion Health Care Law
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
April 2, 2010
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — A pro-life legal group, for itself and four pro-life advocates in Michigan, has filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the pro-abortion health care law President Barack Obama signed. Their suit joins several others — including one from a doctors group and another from more than a dozen state attorneys general.
The Thomas More Law Center, based in Michigan, filed a federal lawsuit in the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.
The suit challenges the constitutionality of the health care law Obama signed that funds and promotes abortions despite an executive order Obama also issued. The goal is to get a permanent injunction against the law.
A TMLC statement indicated none of the four pro-life advocates have health insurance and they are challenging the part of the law making them purchase insurance.
They also object to provisions in the law forcing them to pay for abortions, which violate their religious beliefs.
Obama, Kathleen Sebelius, the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Attorney General Eric Holder, and Timothy Geithner, Secretary of the Department of Treasury, are named as defendants.
Richard Thompson, the president and general counsel of the Thomas More Law Center, commented on the case.
“This Act is a product of political corruption and the exercise of unconstitutional power. Our Founding Fathers envisioned a limited form of government. The purpose of our Constitution and this lawsuit is to insure it stays that way," he said.
“Let’s face it, if Congress has the power to force individuals to purchase health insurance coverage or pay a federal penalty merely because they live in America, then it has the unconstrained power to mandate that every American family buy a General Motors vehicle to help the economy or pay a federal penalty," he added.
The lawsuit says the health care law imposes unprecedented governmental mandates that trample upon the personal and economic freedoms of Americans in violation of their constitutional rights.
It also says Congress had no authority under the Commerce Clause to pass the law, that it violates the Tenth Amendment, and that forcing taxpayers to fund abortions violates their First Amendment conscience and religious rights.
Thompson concluded, “Americans agree that our healthcare system needs reform. But they don’t want a federal takeover of the system in the process. And they don’t want reform by trampling on our Constitution.”
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