LANSING -- Citing a recent case out of Grand Rapids, a federal appeals panel ruled Thursday that because a for-profit business cannot exercise religion, it cannot claim an exemption from mandated contraception coverage under the Affordable Care Act.
The decision handed down Thursday by a Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals panel ruled that Eden Foods, a natural foods company founded in Ann Arbor, cannot challenge the contraception mandate because it is a for-profit business. Eden Foods and its president, Michael Potter, had filed suit in Detroit against U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, claiming the contraception requirement was an infringement on religious beliefs.
The company was seeking an injunction preventing the U.S. government from collecting financial penalties under the Affordable Care Act for failure to provide contraceptive coverage. Potter claims providing such coverage would violate his "deeply held religious beliefs," according to the court.
Potter described the requirement as an "affront to the exercise of religious practices" and accused the federal government of "walking on the rights of companies and individuals who are trying to exercise their lives consistent with their conscience" in an April interview with the Ann Arbor News.
Writing for a unanimous court, Judge Martha Craig Daughtrey held that a Sixth Circuit decision issued earlier this year dismissing a similar challenge made by Kentwood-based Autocam, Inc, required the court to dismiss the case.
"[I]n accordance with the law of the circuit announced in Autocam, we hold that Eden Foods, a secular, for-profit corporation, cannot establish that it can exercise religion, and that Potter cannot establish his standing to challenge obligations placed only upon thecorporation, not upon him as an individual," Daughtrey wrote.
The case was remanded back to the trial court with an order to dismiss Potter's claim for lack of jurisdiction.
Brian Smith is the statewide education and courts reporter for MLive. Email him at bsmith11@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter or Facebook.