Legal representatives for craft store Hobby Lobby requested the United States Supreme Court take on the company's lawsuit against the federal health care law that requires businesses to provide medical coverage that includes access to the Plan-B pill.
The Oklahoma City-based store, along with its sister company Mardel Christian bookstore, asked the Supreme Court to take a look at the case, due to what they call a conflict of decisions by other courts in the case of religious freedom, the Associated Press reported.
"As the federal government embarks on an unprecedented foray into health care replete with multiple overlapping mandates, few issues are more important than the extent to which the government must recognize and accommodate the religious exercise of those it regulates," lawyers from the company wrote in a 51-page file obtained by AP. "Thus, Respondents agree with the government that this Court should grant the petition."
Hobby Lobby was previously given temporary exemption from a part of the federal bill that requires companies provide coverage for the morning-after pill. Two months after the exemption was granted, the Department of Health and Human Services lodged a formal notice in federal court, saying it intended on appealing that decision.
The arts and crafts store is owned by the Green family, who are Evangelical Christians. The feds argued back in May that the Greens owned a for-profit company, changing some of the protections given to churches and other non-profit religious groups under the First Amendment. According to AP, the family believes that a life starts at conception, and their lawyers reported that following the federal health care law would clash with their religious ideals, in addition to potentially costing them millions of dollars in fines.
"When government threatens to ruin a family's business unless they renounce their faith, the pressure placed on them is unmistakable," the lawyers wrote during the first days of the lawsuit. "By any means of law and common sense, the Greens and Hobby Lobby are severely burdened by the government's draconian regulation, and they may seek redress under our Constitution and laws."
Under the new health care act, insurance plans make 16 other kinds of birth control available. The Greens do not believe in emergency contraception that prevents the sperm from meeting the egg in any way.
