A D.C. appeals court ruled in favor of a company that did not want to include birth control in their employee's health coverage, Reuters reported.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit voted 2-1 in favor of brothers Francis and Philip Gilardi, owners of Ohio company Freshway Foods, who do not support providing coverage for contraception, sterilization, and abortion.
MSNBC reported that the brothers reached out to the American Center for Law and Justice, a legal group created by TV preacher Pat Robertson. They also include anti-abortion messages on their Freshway trucks that read "It's not a choice, it's a child."
Though the court said the company did not have the First Amendment right to press a claim, the brothers, as shareholders, did. Their ruling reversed a lower court ruling that originally denied a preliminary injunction.
Judge Janice Rogers Brown said as a result of the regulation, the Gilardis "can either abide by the sacred tenets of their faith, pay a penalty of over $14 million, and cripple the companies they have spent a lifetime building, or they become complicit in a grave moral wrong."
Brown also referred to contraception coverage as "compelled subsidization of a woman's procreative practices."
A dissenting opinion argued that it is the company, not the brothers, that are dealt with a religious conflict.
"They are not required to use or endorse contraception, and they remain free to openly oppose contraception. The Mandate requires nothing more than that the companies, not the Gilardis, offer medical insurance that includes coverage of contraceptive services for those employees who want it," the dissenting judge said.
Friday's ruling is the fourth decision by an appeals court that ruled in favor of the employer, according to the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.
Both the Obama administration and the Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian legal group, have Supreme Court petitions pending regarding the same issue.
