By Steve Olafson
OKLAHOMA CITY, Nov 19 (Reuters) - A U.S. federal judge on
Monday denied a legal challenge to President Barack Obama's
signature health reforms, ruling that the owners of a $3 billion
arts and crafts chain must provide emergency contraceptives in
their group healthcare plan.
The owners of Hobby Lobby asked to be exempted from
providing the "morning after" and "week after" pills on
religious grounds, arguing this would violate their Christian
belief that abortion is wrong.
Judge Joe Heaton of the U.S. District for the Western
District of Oklahoma denied the request for a preliminary
injunction.
Heaton ruled that while individual members of the family
that owns and operates Hobby Lobby have religious rights, the
companies the family owns are secular, for-profit enterprises
that do not possess the same rights.
Kyle Duncan, general counsel for the Becket Fund for
Religious Liberty in Washington, D.C., which assisted Hobby
Lobby in the legal challenge, said Monday's ruling will be
appealed.
Hobby Lobby, the largest non-Catholic U.S. company to go to
court over the issue of contraceptives in the Affordable Care
Act, is owned by the Green family of Oklahoma City. Patriarch
David Green is ranked 79th on Forbes Magazine's list of the 400
richest Americans with a net worth of $4.5 billion.
The family operate 514 Hobby Lobby stores in 41 states and
employ 13,240 people. It funds a variety of Christian charities,
closes its stores on Sundays and plays inspirational Christian
music in its stores.
The Green family also sought contraceptive health insurance
exemption for Mardel, their family-owned bookstore and
educational supply company that has 35 stores in seven states
with 372 employees.
The Oklahoma City-based companies already had been
unwittingly providing the emergency contraceptives until they
realized they were do so during the debate over provisions of
what conservatives have dubbed "Obamacare," according to court
testimony. They discontinued that coverage only recently,
testimony showed.
The Food and Drug Administration lists the "morning after"
and "week after" pills as emergency contraceptives. But abortion
opponents like the Green family consider them abortion-inducing
drugs because they are often taken after conception.
Hobby Lobby faces a Jan. 1 deadline to comply with the
mandate to provide all FDA-approved contraceptives. Failure to
do so would entail a penalty of up to $1.3 million per day.
There are more than 40 other lawsuits challenging the healthcare mandate that requires that all group health plans provide
emergency contraceptives, according to the Becket Fund for
Religious Liberty.
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