A woman walks from a Hobby Lobby store in Little Rock, Ark. (Photo: Danny Johnston, AP)
OKLAHOMA CITY -- An arts and craft supply chain that wants to
block enforcement of part of a new health care law that requires
employers to cover insurance costs for the morning-after pill and the
week-after pill is heading to court.
Lawyers for the
Oklahoma-based Hobby Lobby Stores say the federal law is
unconstitutional and violates the company's owners' religious beliefs by
forcing them to fund the pills, which they say effectively cause an
abortion. The company says failure to provide such insurance could lead
to fines of up to $1.3 million a day.
The U.S. District Court in Oklahoma City is scheduled to hear the company's arguments in favor of an injunction Thursday.
The government says Hobby Lobby is a secular employer that by definition does not exercise religion.
Associated Press