Hobby Lobby Wins Abortion Pill Mandate Case Before 10th Circuit

Jun 28, 2013 | 0 comments

We await decision for Conestoga Wood here at the 3rd Circuit

The Green family that owns and operates Hobby Lobby, a large craft store chain, just won an important religious liberty case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. A Health and Human Services (HHS) regulation issues pursuant to the federal healthcare law requires employer healthcare plans to provide, free of charge to employees, all FDA approved contraception. This has been a problem for many religious employers like the Green family who owns Hobby Lobby and the Hahn family who owns Conestoga Wood. Because of the pro-life religious convictions of these families, they don’t want to be forced to provide drugs and devices that could result in the death of a new human life. For that reason both families filed federal lawsuits seeking an injunction to prevent the government from forcing them to comply with this mandate.

Previously the U.S. District Court and the Court of Appeals ruled against Hobby Lobby. Yesterday, however, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision in favor of Hobby Lobby recognizing the right of that company to exercise religion under the U.S. Constitution and recognizing the burden placed upon the company by the HHS mandate.

“This ruling recognizes that religious businesspeople do not lose their religious freedom in the way they run their business,” said Randall Wenger, Chief Counsel of the Independence Law Center. “If the government can force us to violate our religious conscience, there is no stopping what the government can do. This victory is a win for all freedom loving Americans.”

The Independence Law Center represents the Hahn family and Conestoga Wood in a similar matter that was argued by attorney Charles W. Proctor, III last month before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Please pray for a good outcome in that case.

The Independence Law Center provides its services free of charge. To support the work of the law center, please call 717 657 4990 or visit us on the web at www.independencelawcenter.org.