A federal appeals court will begin to hear a case to decide if the part of the new health care law requiring companies to provide employees access to birth control, including the morning after pill, violates the religious liberty of a company.
Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. argues that businesses, as well as, religious groups shouldn't be forced into providing for elements of the law that go against their religious beliefs, according to the Associated Press.
The Oklahoma City-based arts and crafts store is owned by a family of evangelical Christians, the Greens. While Hobby Lobby currently provides health care for 13,000 of their employees, they do not provide for forms of birth control that specifically clash with the religious views of the Green family, most notably the morning after pill, according to the Christian Science Monitor.
Lori Windham, senior counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty who will be representing Hobby Lobby in the case, spoke with the Oklahoman and explained why the case was important.
"We think that it is a very important case for religious freedom and the rights of business owners, and we are hoping for a good decision from the court," Windham said.
The government's argument in this case is that a for-profit company does not have the same rights as a church or other non-profit religious group under the First Amendment. The government goes further in explaining that providing health care is a burden of the corporation not of the owners of said corporation, therefore the religious beliefs of the owners are irrelevant, according to the Christian Science Monitor.
"(The company owners) cannot circumvent this distinction by asserting that the contraceptive-coverage requirement is a substantial burden on the (owners') personal exercise of religion," the government said in court documents. "The mandate does not compel the (owners) as individuals to do anything."
Hobby Lobby and their lawyers contend that the evangelical faith of the Green family is intertwined in every aspect of the company.
"The Greens have adopted religious statements of purpose for Hobby Lobby and consistently direct Hobby Lobby to engage in religious practices, such as closing on Sundays and buying newspaper ads at Christmas and Easter inviting readers to 'know Jesus as Lord and Savior,'" lawyers for the company argue in court documents.
With faith being such an integral part of the company the lawyers working for Hobby Lobby argue that there is no way that the company can provide contraceptives such as the morning after pill without the owners renouncing their faith.
"When government threatens to ruin a family's business unless the renounce their faith, the pressure placed on them is unmistakable," the lawyers wrote. "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."
In a brief to the court the American Public Health Association argued that allowing a company to deny certain elements of health care to their employees was tantamount to telling employees what they were allowed to spend their wages on, according to the Associated Press.
"Of course, no one would argue that (Hobby Lobby owners) could seek, on religious grounds, to preclude their employees from spending their wages on contraception," the APHA argued. "The same rationale requires rejection employers' demands to impose their religious views on employees through restrictions on the use of health insurance benefits."
