ST. LOUIS (AP) — A Missouri lawmaker fighting required birth control coverage in his state-sponsored insurance plan is relying on the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Hobby Lobby ruling as he contests a lower court’s rejection of his legal challenge to the Affordable Care Act mandate.
The Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis heard oral arguments Monday morning in a lawsuit by Republican state Rep. Paul Wieland and his wife Teresa against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and two other federal agencies.
Wieland’s lawyers urged the three-judge panel to reverse the U.S. District Court’s November 2013 ruling, citing the Supreme Court’s decision this summer that private companies such as Hobby Lobby with religious objections can opt out of the federal insurance plan’s contraceptive requirement. The judges didn’t immediately rule.