Christian-owned-and-operated chains will appeal ruling, but risk potential fines of up to $1.3 million per day

Arts and crafts chain Hobby Lobby and sister retailer Mardel do not plan to carry insurance that covers abortion pills.

“Hobby Lobby will continue their appeal before the Tenth Circuit,” said Kyle Duncan, general counsel who represents the Oklahoma-based companies, in a statement on the website for The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. “The Supreme Court merely decided not to get involved in the case at this time. It left open the possibility of review after their appeal is completed in the Tenth Circuit. The company will continue to provide health insurance to all qualified employees. To remain true to their faith, it is not their intention, as a company, to pay for abortion-inducing drugs.”

Defying the federal mandate that requires companies to offer employees health coverage that includes the “morning after” and “week after” pills means the Christian-owned-and-operated chains are risking potential fines of up to $1.3 million per day.

On Dec. 20, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor denied their request for an injunction while the case is pending, saying the stores did not meet the legal standard for blocking the requirement on an emergency basis. However, she said, the companies may still challenge the regulations in the lower courts. 

In a related health care case, Tyndale House Publishers received a favorable ruling Nov. 16, which stopped enforcement of the Obama administration’s abortion pill mandate for the Christian publisher.

In November, U.S. District Judge Joe Heaton said that although churches and other religious organizations have been granted constitutional protection from the abortion mandate, “Hobby Lobby and Mardel are not religious organizations.”

Both companies are owned by the Green family of Oklahoma City, Okla., David Green, founder and CEO of Hobby Lobby, which has 500-plus locations.

“The Green family is disappointed with [the Dec. 20] ruling,” said Kyle Duncan, general counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. “They simply asked for a temporary halt to the mandate while their appeal goes forward, and now they must seek relief from the United States Supreme Court. The Greens will continue to make their case on appeal that this unconstitutional mandate infringes their right to earn a living while remaining true to their faith.”

The 10th Circuit judges denied the motion calling the religious burden to the Green family “indirect and attenuated.”

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

The Green family has no moral objection to the use of preventive contraceptives and will continue covering preventive contraceptives for its employees. However, the family’s convictions prohibit them from providing or paying for abortion-inducing drugs, which would violate belief that life begins at conception.

The abortion pill mandate is a regulation under the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare). The Becket Fund also represents Wheaton College and others in their fight against the mandate.

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