The Article: Attorney: Hobby Lobby to defy morning-after pill insurance requirement while lawsuit?s pending
The Source: foxnews.com
The Date: December 27, 2012
WASHINGTON ? An attorney for Hobby Lobby Stores said Thursday that the arts and crafts chain plans to defy a federal mandate requiring it to offer employees health coverage that includes access to the morning-after pill, despite risking potential fines of up to $1.3 million per day.
Hobby Lobby and religious book-seller Mardel Inc., which are owned by the same conservative Christian family, are suing to block part of the federal health care law that requires employee health-care plans to provide insurance coverage for the morning-after pill and similar emergency contraception pills.
The companies claim the mandate violates the religious beliefs of their owners. They say the morning-after pill is tantamount to abortion because it can prevent a fertilized egg from becoming implanted in a woman?s womb.
On Wednesday, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor denied the companies? request for an injunction while their lawsuit is pending, saying the stores failed to satisfy the demanding legal standard for blocking the requirement on an emergency basis. She said the companies may still challenge the regulations in the lower courts.
Kyle Duncan, who is representing Hobby Lobby on behalf of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, said in a statement posted on the group?s website Thursday that Hobby Lobby doesn?t intend to offer its employees insurance that would cover the drug while its lawsuit is pending.
?The company will continue to provide health insurance to all qualified employees,? Duncan said. ?To remain true to their faith, it is not their intention, as a company, to pay for abortion-inducing drugs.?
In ruling against the companies last month, U.S. District Judge Joe Heaton said churches and other religious organizations have been granted constitutional protection from the birth-control provisions but that ?Hobby Lobby and Mardel are not religious organizations.?
On January 1, religious business owners whose employee health plans renew at the beginning of the year will face the impossible decision to either violate their deeply held beliefs by complying with the mandate or jump over Obamacare?s conscience cliff and face ruinous fines.
heritage.org
Are you a business owner? We would love to hear your thoughts on this issue.
What are you doing to address the challenges of the new healthcare legislation?
What are the implications of this decision for business owners in the future?
Source: http://www.cfcbe.com/2013/01/02/hobby-lobby-and-the-morning-after-pill/
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