A 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel has blocked efforts by a Pennsylvania cabinetry company to avoid having to comply with the new federal contraceptive benefits mandate.
The panel held in Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. et al. vs. Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services et al. that the First Amendment protects the "free exercise of religion" only for human beings, not for corporations.
Circuit Judge Robert Cowen, nominated to the court by President Reagan in 1987, wrote in the majority opinion that he and Thomas Vanaskie recognize the owners of Conestoga Wood believe that "birth control methods that terminate a fertilized embryo are an intrinsic evil."
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Allison Bell
Allison Bell, a senior reporter at ThinkAdvisor and BenefitsPRO, previously was an associate editor at National Underwriter Life & Health. She has a bachelor's degree in economics from Washington University in St. Louis and a master's degree in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. She can be reached through X at @Think_Allison.
