Supreme Court justice refuses to block HHS morning-after pill mandate
December 27, 2012
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor has refused to block enforcement of that part of the HHS mandate which requires employers to provide insurance coverage for the morning-after pill.
In September, Hobby Lobby Stores, a private chain of over 500 arts-and-crafts stores with 13,600 employees in 41 states, and a sister company (Mardel, Inc.) filed suit against the HHS mandate. The chain is owned by an evangelical Protestant family whose members have no objection to the contraception provision of the HHS mandate.
“However, the Green family’s religious convictions prohibit them from providing or paying for the abortion-inducing drugs, the ‘morning-after’ and ‘week-after’ pills, which would violate their most deeply held religious belief that life begins at conception,” stated the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is representing Hobby Lobby Stores.
On December 20, a federal court denied Hobby Lobby’s request to block enforcement of the mandate, and six days later, Justice Sotomayor denied Hobby Lobby’s petition to block enforcement.
Beginning January 1, Hobby Lobby will face a fine of $1.3 million per day if it refuses to offer the insurance coverage. Justice Sotomayor ruled that the company may continue to challenge the constitutionality of the mandate in lower courts.
For all current news, visit our News home page.
Further information:
- Justice refuses to block morning-after pill rule (AP)
- Hobby Lobby Forced to ask Supreme Court to Halt Abortion Drug Mandate (Becket Fund for Religious Liberty)
- Hobby Lobby files suit against HHS mandate (CWN, 9/13)
All comments are moderated. To lighten our editing burden, only current donors are allowed to Sound Off. If you are a current donor, log in to see the comment form; otherwise please support our work, and Sound Off!
-
Posted by: Bveritas2322 -
Dec. 28, 2012 2:53 AM ET USA
The most disturbing thing about all of this is that we have an American "president" who compells us to support his crimes against humanity and professed Catholics vote him back into office. All the while our "bishops" continue to characterize crimes against humanity as a "religious rights issue" rather than crimes against humanity. I don't know which is worse. Boy do we need prayer
-
Posted by: unum -
Dec. 27, 2012 11:00 PM ET USA
The left, which Catholic Justice Sotomayor represents on the SCOTUS, has no concept of the evil done by forcing citizens to violate their deeply held Christian religious principles. But, when it comes to members of other religions suffering the violation of their beliefs, like a Muslim being denied Ramadan meals, the Justice has no trouble recognizing evil and ruling to promptly remedy the situation. Sad!
-
Posted by: Gregory108 -
Dec. 27, 2012 7:00 PM ET USA
I wonder how many Hobby Lobby employees voted for the mandate by voting for Obama and the Democrat Senate majority. In 2008? In 2012? Power to the People! Time to give "the people" what they wanted and voted! Time to cancel insurance coverage for employees or pay them a little more to buy insurance on the more expensive individual market. This should be the solution for every affected employer, especially for Obama-supporting Catholic employees of left-leaning so-called Catholc social agencies.
