Store owner David Green to appeal unfavorable court decision

Christian-owned-and-operated Hobby Lobby Stores and sister company, Mardel Christian & Education, didn’t receive the outcome founder and CEO David Green wanted in a federal court case. 

U.S. District Judge Joe Heaton ruled Nov. 19 that the Oklahoma City-based companies must provide the “morning after” and “week after” pills under new federal healthcare rules that begin Jan. 1. If they don’t, the companies will face fines of up to $1.3 million per day.

“We disagree with this decision and we will immediately appeal it,” said Kyle Duncan, general counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. “Every American, including family business owners like the Greens, should be free to live and do business according to their religious beliefs. The Green family needs relief now, and we will seek it immediately from the federal appeals court in Denver.”

The court did not question the fact that the family’s beliefs forbid them from participating in abortion, but ruled that those beliefs were only “indirectly” burdened by the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”) mandate’s requirement that they provide free coverage for specific, abortion-inducing drugs in Hobby Lobby’s self-funded insurance plan.

Hobby Lobby was founded in 1972 and has grown from one 300-square-foot retail space into more than 500 stores in 41 states. The chain employs more than 22,500 people.

“It is by God’s grace and provision that Hobby Lobby has endured,” Green said. “Therefore we seek to honor God by operating the company in a manner consistent with biblical principles.”

Mardel was opened by David Green’s son, CEO Mart Green, in 1981 and now has 35 stores with 800 employees. 

Hobby Lobby is the largest and first non-Catholic-owned business to file a lawsuit against the Health and Human Services (HHS) mandate. 

The Green family will continue covering preventive contraceptives for its employees, but their convictions prohibit them from providing or paying for the abortion-inducing drugs, which would violate their belief that life begins at conception. The lawsuit acts to preserve the companies’ right to carry out its mission free from government coercion. 

The Becket Fund also represents a number of other Christian colleges and organizations in similar suits. At press time, there were approximately 40 lawsuits challenging the HHS mandate.

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