Institute for Faith & Family (IFFNC.com) filed an Amicus brief with the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in Kirkland vs. Kreidler in defense of a pastor facing imprisonment and fines if his church does not comply with funding employee abortions under state law.
Cedar Park Assembly in Washington State, represented by Alliance Defending Freedom, is appealing a decision after a lower court ruled the church must violate its deeply held core belief that all life is important from conception to natural death. The church has a thriving pro-life ministry including a partnership with a local pregnancy care center and is objecting to Washington State’s demand to comply with SB 6219 which includes surgical dismemberment abortion.
“Washington State is attempting to force churches to go against their deeply held religious beliefs and become complicit in abortion which often includes painful dismemberment of the child,” said IFF Executive Director Tami Fitzgerald. “We cannot allow pastors to be bullied and threatened with jail and fines by the heavy hand of overreaching government as it attempts to bypass Supreme Court precedent concerning basic religious liberty.”
From the Supreme Court to the 5th, 9th, and 11 Circuits, IFF has filed dozens of Amicus briefs over the years on a number of major cases impacting issues of pro-life, pro-family, and pro-religious freedom. IFF is the sister organization of NC Values Coalition. Attorney Deborah Dewart wrote and filed the Kirkland vs. Kreidler brief on behalf of the Institute for Faith & Family.
Click here to download the rest of the brief, or read it below.
