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Hobby Lobby Appeals Obamacare Mandate Ruling

Religion Today

Christian-owned Hobby Lobby is appealing in federal court over its case against the abortion-pill mandate in Obamacare, CBN News reports. The federal healthcare law forces employers to provide the "morning-after" pill and "week-after" pill in their health insurance plans or face more than $1 million in fines per day, but the owners of Hobby Lobby, the Green family, asked to be exempted from the mandate because it violated their belief that abortion is wrong. A lower court on Tuesday denied their initial request to be excused from the mandate, ruling that though the Greens have religious beliefs forbidding them from providing abortion-causing drugs, they were only "indirectly" burdened by the mandate's requirement. The company filed an emergency appeal to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. Kyle Duncan, general counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is representing Hobby Lobby, said: "Every American, including family business owners like the Greens, should be free to make a living without forfeiting their religious beliefs. The Green family needs relief before Jan. 1 and so we have asked the federal appeals court in Denver to issue an injunction against the mandate."