Court Rules Hobby Lobby Must Offer Birth Control, or Face Fines

A federal court denied Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc.'s request for a preliminary injunction against offering health insurance coverage of "morning after pill" and "week after pill."  Attorneys for the company plan to appeal this decision.

Without the injunction, Hobby Lobby will have to pay fines up to $1.3 million dollars a day beginning in January if it does not provide the pills, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty said.

"That is obviously unacceptable. That obviously puts Hobby Lobby in an impossible situation. It puts extreme pressure on Hobby Lobby to violate it's religious faith," Kyle Duncan, the general counsel for the Becket Fund said.

Hobby Lobby filed a lawsuit against the section of the Affordable Care Act in September that mandates coverage of "abortion pills," citing the religious beliefs of the Green family, which owns it.

"The court found that the burden on the beliefs was quote, unquote indirect, because the Green family according to the court, shouldn't feel substantially burdened by... simply making something available to its employees who may or may not purchase, with insurance [the] drugs," Duncan said. "What we've said all along is the Green's object to facilitating this kinds of drugs."

Duncan said other courts have approved injunction brought by other religious groups on the same subject.Court Rules Hobby Lobby Must Offer Birth Control, or Face Fines

Posted: Monday, November 19 2012, 09:35 PM CST