An Ohio business does not have to comply with the Obama administration's abortifacient/contraception/sterilization mandate, a federal judge has ruled.
Johnson Welded Products, based in Urbana, sued the administration last year because owner Lilli Johnson opposed the mandate on religious grounds. Last week, the federal judge cited the Supreme Court's Hobby Lobby v. Burwell ruling to grant the company an exemption.
Johnson's company, which makes brake reservoirs for the trucking industry, was represented in court by the American Freedom Law Center. According to attorney Robert Muise, “Johnson Welded Products is in the same position as Hobby Lobby.”
“She wants to run her company pursuant to her Catholic beliefs,” Muise told the Springfield News-Sun in July. “This mandate prohibits her from doing so.”
The Supreme Court ruled that the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act applies to closely held corporations, where a small number of people hold the company's stock.
Political reactions to the Ohio decision were swift. State representative-elect Nino Vitale, who is Lilli Johnson's husband, said on his website that “this is a ruling against tyranny and for religious freedom and liberty.“
Likewise, U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-OH, said that the decision is “good news.”
However, a spokesman for Ohio Democratic candidate for governor Ed Fitzgerald told the Dayton Daily News, “Not only does this ruling inappropriately involve a woman’s boss in extremely personal health care decisions, but it also hits at the pocketbooks of families who are already struggling to get by.”
“As governor, Ed will stand up against extreme restrictions on women’s health care,” the spokesman said.
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A spokesman for Ohio Governor John Kasich was quoted as saying, “The governor is and [has] always been pro-life, [but] we haven’t seen the decision.”
The decision came days before a different federal judge temporarily prevented Ave Maria University from being forced to violate its religious beliefs. The Catholic university, which is being represented by The Becket Fund, would have been fined millions annually if the mandate went into effect.
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