ActRight Legal Foundation

(United States District Court for the District of Minnesota, on interlocutory appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit)

Stuart Lind owns and operates Annex Medical, Inc., a Minnesota-based manufacturer of medical products of high quality and good value. Mr. Lind strives to conduct Annex Medical “in a way that is pleasing to God and is faithful to Biblical principles and values.”

Mr. Lind and fellow Minnesota businessman Tom Janas are devout Catholics who are steadfastly committed to biblical principles and the teachings of the Catholic Church, including the belief that life involves the creative action of God, and is therefore sacred. Specifically, Mr. Lind and Mr. Janas believe that any action which either before, at the moment of, or after sexual intercourse, is specifically intended to prevent procreation is an evil forbidden by God.

The Obama Administration has now mandated that Mr. Lind, Mr. Janas, and their companies, must pay for contraception, sterilization, abortifacient drugs, including Plan B (the “morning after pill”) and Ella (the “week after pill”),  and related education and counseling in their group health care plans.

Mr. Lind and Mr. Janas wish to conduct their businesses according to their deeply-held beliefs. The Obama Administration’s Mandate makes that impossible.  So, Mr. Lind, his business Annex Medical, and Mr. Janas filed a lawsuit seeking to be exempted from the Mandate in order to be able to freely exercise their religious beliefs.

Due to the urgency of their situation, Mr. Lind and Annex Medical sought emergency relief from the court in order to be exempted from the Mandate while the court determines the merits of their case. The government, supported by the ACLU, opposed that request, claiming that the Mandate does not impose a substantial burden on Mr. Lind or Annex Medical. The District Court of Minnesota agreed.

Update – February 1, 2013

Mr. Lind and Annex Medical have asked the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals for emergency relief while they appeal the district court’s decision. On February 1, 2013, the Eighth Circuit granted Mr. Lind and Annex Medical’s request for emergency relief and granted them protection from the Mandate pending the resolution of their appeal.

ActRight Legal Foundation issued the following statement applauding the court’s ruling.