GuideStone: HHS proposed rule not enough
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ERLC brief: mandate harms religious freedom
The HHS mandate's "amended definition would still fail to protect religious liberty."
-- attorney Kim Colby | WASHINGTON (BP) -- The Obama administration's abortion/contraception mandate still fails to safeguard religious freedom, the Southern Baptist Convention's church-state entity and other evangelical Christian organizations have told a federal appeals court.
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11th injunction issued against abortion mandate
ST. PAUL (BP) -- An appeals court has blocked enforcement of the Obama administration's abortion/contraceptive mandate against a Minnesota business, marking the 11th win by businesses or organizations against the controversial federal policy.
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New HHS rule on abortion mandate 'inadequate'
"Having reviewed this proposed rule, we ... have to say we're extremely disappointed."
-- Kyle Duncan, Becket Fund | WASHINGTON (BP) -- The Obama administration proposed a rule change Friday it says will appease the concerns religious organizations have about the abortion/contraceptive mandate, but legal groups who defend religious liberty called the proposal inadequate and said it fell far short of what is needed.
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Appeals court rules against abortion mandate
CHICAGO (BP) -- A federal appeals court has once again ruled against the Obama administration's abortion/contraception mandate in a case that has strong implications for religious liberty.
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ANALYSIS: Businesses' freedoms take hit
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IN-DEPTH: Companies fight abortion mandate
WASHINGTON (BP) -- Chris and Paul Griesedieck know how to crush just about anything.
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Hobby Lobby finds short-term way to avoid fines
OKLAHOMA CITY (BP) -- Hobby Lobby says it has found a way to avoid for "several months" being penalized by the federal government for not covering abortion-inducing drugs in its employee health care plans.
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Hobby Lobby apparently will defy gov't on abortion mandate
OKLAHOMA CITY (BP) -- Arts and crafts store Hobby Lobby apparently is willing to defy the federal government and face huge fines for not covering abortion-inducing drugs following a string of court losses in December.
Hobby Lobby's setbacks in court at the end of the year gained significant media attention, despite the fact that for-profit businesses like the Oklahoma-based business continue to rack up court victories against the mandate. According to a tally by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, nine for-profit businesses -- including three in late December -- have won injunctions in courts protecting them from the mandate. Only three for-profit businesses -- Hobby Lobby among them -- have failed to obtain an injunction.
Hobby Lobby is the largest business to file suit against the mandate. Its new health care plan went into effect Jan. 1.
"The company will continue to provide health insurance to all qualified employees," said Kyle Duncan, general counsel for the Becket Fund, which is representing Hobby Lobby in court. "To remain true to their faith, it is not their intention, as a company, to pay for abortion-inducing drugs."
A Becket spokesman Wednesday (Jan. 2) said the law firm was not commenting further on Hobby Lobby's intentions. But if the company did choose not to cover abortion-inducing drugs mandated by the Department of Health and Human Services, it reportedly could face fines of up to $1.3 million a day.
Under the mandate, businesses and even some religious organizations are required to carry employee insurance that covers contraceptives, including emergency contraceptives such as Plan B and ella that can kill an embryo after fertilization and even after implantation. Pro-lifers consider that action a chemical abortion. After a federal judge in November ruled Hobby Lobby must cover the drugs, Becket unsuccessfully appealed to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals and to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who oversees emergency appeals from the Tenth Circuit. Sotomayor did say the lawsuit could proceed in the lower court and be appealed back to the high court at the appropriate time.
"Hobby Lobby," Duncan said, "will continue their appeal before the Tenth Circuit. 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 Hobby Lobby suit also includes Mardel, a Christian bookstore chain. The same family -- the Greens -- owns both of them.
"These abortion-causing drugs go against our faith, and our family is now being forced to choose between following the laws of the land that we love or maintaining the religious beliefs that have made our business successful," David Green, Hobby Lobby's founder and CEO, said in September. "... We simply cannot abandon our religious beliefs to comply with this mandate."
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Federal appeals court sides with 2 colleges opposing HHS abortion-contraceptive mandate
This is "a tremendous day for religious freedom and freedom of conscience."
-– Richard Land | WASHINGTON (BP) -- A federal appeals court has delivered an important victory to religious nonprofit organizations that oppose the Obama administration's abortion/contraception mandate.
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Survey: Most back contraception mandate
NASHVILLE (BP) -- The majority of adults in America believe businesses and organizations, even those with conflicting religious principles, should be required to provide coverage of contraception and birth control for their employees, according to a survey by LifeWay Research.
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Appeals court rules against abortion mandate
ST. LOUIS (BP) -- For the first time a federal appeals court has issued an order against the Obama administration's abortion/contraceptive mandate.
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GuideStone: health care law needs changes
DALLAS (BP) -- President Obama's re-election virtually guarantees that his signature health care reform law, passed in 2010, will continue moving toward implementation over the coming four years.
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Supreme Court revives Obamacare challenge
WASHINGTON (BP) -– Religious objections to the Obama administration's abortion/contraception mandate have gained new life after the U.S. Supreme Court ordered a federal appeals judge to reconsider a Christian university's challenge to the health care law.
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Judge: Hobby Lobby must cover abortion drugs
OKLAHOMA CITY (BP) -- A federal judge has ruled that Hobby Lobby and Mardel stores must cover abortion-causing drugs for their employees as required by the Obama administration because the companies -- despite having faith as a central element of their operations -- are not religious enough to warrant a court intervention.
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